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Hundreds of wildfires are torching huge swaths of Siberia after an unusually hot and dry summer left forests primed to burn. The blazes, likely ignited by lightning and strengthened by strong winds, have already burned more than 320,000 square kilometres, an area as large as Belgium, with the vast majority in areas that are hard to reach and where potential damage is likely to be less than the cost of fighting them.
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Temperatures have peaked record high in many parts of Europe this week and the consequences are directly felt also in Europe’s forests. As highlighted in a discussion document published by the EPNearlier this year, there’s an increasingly clear link between climate change, large scale industrial tree plantations and forest fires.
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The recent forest fires erupted in Greece Russia and Sweden signal the growing risk for European forests due to climate change. From the Mediterranean to the Arctic, fires are becoming more intense and devastating. Here are the worst records of the last decade:
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A total of 66 wildfires covering an area of 14,888 hectares have been put out in the past 24 hours across Russia, the press service of the Federal Aerial Forest Fire Service reports on Sunday. The hardest hit by wildfires are the Krasnoyarsk Region and Yakutia, where 39,600 and 21,000 hectares of woodland accordingly are engulfed in flames. About 3,200 hectares are hit by wildfires in the Magadan region, and more than 2,300 - in the Irkutsk region. Modest wildfires are reported as of Sunday morning from the Murmansk Region, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Karelia, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, in the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Volgograd regions, as well as in the Komi Republic. Almost 24,300 hectares of woodland are burning in the Tungussky Natural Park in the Krasnoyarsk Region.
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Sweden has issued calls for emergency assistance from the European Union after wildfires broke out across the country during an extreme heatwave. Dozens of forest fires have swept the Nordic region, including in parts of the Arctic circle, prompting Stockholm to seek intervention from its neighbours to control the spread. Tens of thousands of people have been urged to stay indoors with windows and vents shut to avoid smoke inhalation.