Europe's wildfire emergency

Where Europe is burning

The worst-hit areas

Pyrocumulonimbus

A fire hot enough to build its own thunderstorm. The rising column pulls in air from every side, so the fire generates its own shifting winds. If the cloud towers high enough, it makes its own lightning too.

The wind it creates is unpredictable, so crews cannot tell which way the fire will run.

Recorded in southwest France for the first time. Until now, seen mainly in Australia and North America.

Hydroclimate whiplash

The season swung from one extreme to the other. A wet winter, one of France and Spain's wettest on record, grew thick grass and brush. A record-hot, rain-starved spring then cured all of it into fuel.

Climate scientists call this rapid wet-to-dry swing hydroclimate whiplash.

June 2026 was Western Europe's hottest June on record, about 3°C above average. Winds up to 70 km/h then drove the spread.

We monitor these events because understanding how they behave is how the industry prepares for them.

Our thoughts are with the communities affected and the crews still fighting these fires.