Note: Dashed lines show the latest data, which is often revised upwards. Source: European Forest Fire Information System. The extraordinary growth of a few enormous wildfires in France and Spain in the last two weeks has transformed an above-average fire season into a record-breaking one.Forty percent more land has already burned in France than in the previous record year documented by the European Forest Fire Information System, which began tracking burned areas in 2006.In Spain, the amount of land consumed so far this year is nearly at record levels for the last two decades.The two largest wildfires are the largest recorded in France and Spain since European Union data began. They have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and threatened Bordeaux in France and Madrid and Valencia in Spain. Source: VIIRS satellite fire detection data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via NASA. Rarely have so many enormous fires burned in Europe at the same time. Three of the fifteen largest European fires in the last decade have burned this month — two near Madrid and one near Bordeaux. Three of the fifteen largest European fires of the last decade were burning this month 1. Évros, 2023 Greece 238,729 acres 2. Viseu Dão Lafões, 2017 Portugal 166,848 acres 3. Região de Coimbra, 2017 Portugal 158,941 acres 4. Beiras e Serra da Estrela, 2025 Portugal 153,462 acres 5. Evia, 2021 Greece 128,201 acres 6. Ávila, 2026 Spain 109,722 acres 7. Zamora, 2025 Spain 99,042 acres 8. Gironde, 2026 France 96,724 acres 9. Beiras e Serra da Estrela, 2025 Portugal 92,959 acres 10. Ourense, 2025 Spain 91,871 acres 11. Médio Tejo, 2017 Portugal 87,908 acres 12. Viseu Dão Lafões, 2024 Portugal 87,779 acres 13. Região de Coimbra, 2017 Portugal 86,101 acres 14. La Mierla, 2026 Spain 81,599 acres 15. Zamora, 2022 Spain 80,378 acres Note: The size of the fires in this chart comes from satellite analysis by the European Forest Fire Information System, which may lag estimates released by officials by a few days. Fires are referred to by the province in which they began. The fire labeled La Mierla uses the name common in press reports. Source: European Forest Fire Information System. Europe has been hit by successive heat waves since late May, and last month was the hottest June on record in Western Europe, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service.The heat has dried out vegetation across the region, allowing fires to spread quickly, and the Spanish and French authorities say that erratic winds have made the fires difficult to stop.A satellite image captured Sunday shows a 30-mile-wide burned area where the Ávila fire has been raging west of Madrid. Another large, scorched area can be seen northeast of the capital where the La Mierla fire, which was stabilized last week, consumed more than 80,000 acres. Source: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (satellite image). Firefighters are racing to control the fires before another heat wave hits France and Spain this week. Temperatures are forecast to climb to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius, in some areas.Last year saw a record-breaking fire season across Europe, with more than 2.5 million acres burned. The fires of the last two weeks have propelled 2026 ahead of last year at the same time, with more land burned than by this point in 2025.There could be more destruction to come. Last year, about 60 percent of wildfire damage occurred in August alone. And many parts of Europe outside France and Spain have yet to be hit particularly hard this year. Note: Dashed line shows the latest data, which is often revised upwards. Source: European Forest Fire Information System