There was a significant increase in the number of wildfires and burnt areas of land in Ireland last year as new figures show 2025 was the EU’s most destructive wildfire season on record. More than 4,000ha were burnt by 30 large wildfires that individually covered an area of at least 30ha. It was the highest annual number of large wildfires in the past 15 years and the largest area of damage caused by large wildfires since 2017. The intensity of wildfires across Europe peaked in August, with very large fires spread across several Mediterranean countries. A prolonged heatwave in the first three weeks of August triggered 22 very large fires in Portugal and Spain almost simultaneously.

Source: Irish Examiner April 05, 2026 18:00 UTC