From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
Just an interim look at the latest fires in France, wildfire area in the EU so far this year is within the normal range:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-area-burnt-by-wildfires-by-week?country=~OWID_EU27
Even in France itself, the situation appears no worse than in 2019 and 2022:
The worst fire year in France since 1980 was 1989.
Even in France itself, the situation appears no worse than in 2019 and 2022
The latest full week in 2026 displayed on that chart (week 29) clearly shows that, at 65,453 ha, 2026 had a much larger cumulative burn area across France than the same week in 2022 (56,515 ha).
According to the French Interior Ministry (link in French, translation below via Google Translate), as of July 24 (end of week 30), the total area burnt in France stood at 116,085 ha, with further burnt area this week.
As major fires rage, particularly in the Gironde and Landes regions, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced that 116,085 hectares have burned in France since the beginning of the year. The Ministry of the Interior—specifically the Directorate-General for Civil Security and Crisis Management and the departmental prefectures—is fully mobilized to address this large-scale situation.
Even using last week’s figures, week 30, cumulative burnt area in France is now off the top of the scale in that OWID chart.
It will be interesting to see the OWID updates over the next few weeks and whether Homewood or WUWT choose to report them.
