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Date Published: 08/07/2026

Spain's wildfires have already burned through more than 50,000 hectares this year, nearly 40% of the entire EU total

With multiple blazes still active across Catalonia, Cádiz and Huelva, the scale of the crisis is growing by the day

Spain is burning, and the numbers are stark. Wildfires have scorched 50,384 hectares across the country between January 1 and July 1, nearly 40% of all land burned across the entire European Union in that period. The EU total itself stands at 126,328 hectares, already 1.4 times higher than at the same point last year. Spain has also recorded more individual fires than any other EU country in 2026, with 300 blazes, just ahead of France with 275.

Back in June, the situation was already being described as three times worse than the same point last year. It has not improved. The 50,384 hectares burned this year is a 141% increase on the 20,865 hectares recorded in the first six months of last year, and the worst of the summer is still ahead.

The European Parliament responded on Tuesday by approving €120.55 million from the EU Solidarity Fund to help Spain recover from last year's fire season, when 393,079 hectares burned across 16 autonomous communities. Most of that destruction happened in August alone, when more than 150,000 hectares were lost in a single month. Spain will receive more than 80% of a total aid package of €144.1 million.

Tuesday was a grim day on the ground, particularly in Catalonia, where firefighters are battling multiple simultaneous blazes in heatwave conditions. The most serious is the Sentmenat fire near Barcelona, which has burned 152 hectares, triggered secondary fires and left seven residential areas under lockdown. Crews are working urgently to stop flames reaching the El Fairell residential area, with memories of the devastating 2003 Sant Llorenç Savall fire, which claimed five lives, never far from the surface.

Across the region, the picture on Tuesday looked like this:

Anoia (Barcelona): around 500 hectares burned, now under control. A general lockdown affecting 33,000 residents was lifted after Catalan Interior Minister Núria Parlon said the situation was progressing "favorably."
La Bisbal d'Empordà (Girona): approximately 2,200 hectares burned, under control since Saturday.
Savallà del Comtat (Tarragona): 11 hectares burned, stabilised within hours, village of Segura briefly confined.
Selvanera (Lleida): around 73 hectares, with villages including Biosca and Sanahuja placed under confinement and more than 30 crews working the blaze.
Artesa de Segre (Lleida): 32 hectares, stabilised, caused by harvesting machinery.
Martorell (Barcelona): a fire next to railway tracks briefly suspended train services between Sant Sadurní d'Anoia and Martorell Central before being brought under control.

In the north, Castile and León and Asturias established a unified command on Tuesday to coordinate firefighting efforts at Ribota de Sajambre, where a level 2 severity alert remains in force due to the ongoing threat to populated areas.

In Andalucía the news was more mixed. The Grazalema fire in Cádiz was declared stabilised on Tuesday morning and all evacuees have been allowed home. But a new fire broke out yesterday afternoon in the Los Visos area of Barbate, between an industrial park and La Breña natural park, with more than 50 crews deployed. In Moguer, Huelva, another blaze has started in the La Lila area, where 23 firefighters are working on the ground.

With the second heatwave of the summer still gripping much of the country, the conditions for further fires remain very much in place.

Image: Vadim Braydov/Pexels

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