Blazes Burning with the Intensity of ‘Atomic Bombs’: Europe Enters a New Era of Mega Fires
Experts say climate change and successive heat waves are driving unusually large, erratic blazes that have set national records and created fire clouds.
- France and Spain are battling record-breaking wildfires that have forced more than 300,000 evacuations across the two countries. French President Emmanuel Macron visited Bordeaux on Monday, calling the situation "totally unprecedented" and the hardest since the Second World War.
- Brutal heat waves since May parched Western Europe following a wet winter, creating a "whiplash effect." Matthew Jones, an independent research fellow at the University of East Anglia, said this heat provided "the crack of the whip," turning dense vegetation into "highly combustible fuel."
- Intense wildfires generated rare "pyrocumulonimbus" fire clouds near Bordeaux over the weekend in the Gironde region, according to fire authorities. These clouds create their own wind and lightning, transforming blazes into unpredictable, self-feeding firestorms.
- Stefan Doerr, director of the Centre for Wildfire Research at Swansea University, said complete suppression remains almost impossible until fuel runs out or rain arrives. Authorities warn extinguishing current fires could take months, with impacts lingering long after.
- Resco de Dios, a lecturer at the University of Lleida, warned Europe may soon face "Dantean scenarios" similar to those in California or Australia. Experts expect fires to become more frequent and extreme as global temperatures continue rising.
17 Articles
17 Articles
The area of the Mediterranean continues to concentrate the great fires, but there are lands further north, at higher altitudes and for longer periods, where the fire begins to gain dimension. There were warnings.
Scientists link the intensity of this year's fires to the effects of climate change
Action News Now
Blazes burning with the intensity of ‘atomic bombs’: Europe enters a new era of mega fires
On Wednesday, authorities in Spain and France said that some wildfires had been stabilized, but expressed concern that things could still deteriorate amid Europe’s fourth heat wave so far this year.
The deadly fires that have been plaguing Europe lately seem to have the "intensity of an atomic" bomb, as experts point out.
The summer of 2026 marks a break: more than 116,000 hectares burned on 27 July, a historic record, with some 30 simultaneous fires, 42,000 hectares left in smoke in Gironde in a week and more than 220,000 people evacuated. Above all, the risk has changed geographical scale: the two fires in the forest of Fontainebleau confirm that Île-de-France has in turn become a "fire territory" just like Côte-d'Or or Brittany. According to IGN as according t…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 82% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
