EU Wildfire Trends 2023
By Paul Homewood
The EU has now published provisional data for wildfires in 2023, so I have updated my graph for the Mediterranean region.
It is quite a surprise, given the headlines devoted to the topic, to see that the area burnt was not even as great as 2022, and well below many years in the 1980s and 90s.
The largest fire was in Thrace:
Even then, though, it was not the worst fire season in Greece; the worst was 2007.
The provisional data is likely to change in due course, but changes are usually only small.
NOTES
1) Data for 2023 is from Copernicus:
https://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/apps/effis.statistics/seasonaltrend
2) Earlier data id from the EEA: https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/burnt-forest-area-in-five-4/#tab-chart_5
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
So the uncontrolled spread of “wildfires” in Europe is lower than previous years – well let me tell you, THAT ain’t going to make a screaming disaster new headline is it, we need DISASTER, destruction, unprecedented numbers of homes burnt down, THINK headline, THINK clicks – get with the plan.
The Climate Crisis is in crisis, nothing is going there way, the oceans refuse to inundate cities, crops refuse to fail and in a obscene act of defiance are actually providing more food than ever, air quality has improved, acid rain at least in the Northern hemisphere is seriously down, droughts which have plagued the planet since the dawn of time have not got worse, the damn ice sheets are growing – FFS where are we going to get heart rendering photos of stranded polar bears from………it’s just so unfair.
This post makes me think of a song witten by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee, the version that I know was by The Carpenters.
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
‘Cause you don’t love me any more
Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love
I wake-up in the morning, and I wonder
Why everything’s the same as it was
I can’t understand, no, I can’t understand
How life goes on the way it does
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
It ended when you said, “Good-bye”
Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm
(Why do these eyes of mine cry?)
Mmm, mmm, mmm
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
It ended when you said, “Good-bye”
“…it’s just so unfair.”
& 97% Unprecedented !!
Look, wildfires are all part of Gaia’s way of renewing the earth and her capacity to support wildlife. So a reduction in wildfires is bad, bad news.
Will no one think of the planet?
Wildfires are local. Numbers and area burned have zero wider implication.
Wild fires…. Hmmm another Generational thing ? Oh help me help me help me … . I can’t woke! ( Cope) I want to be noticed! etc .
So how many of these Fires were caused by Lightning or Real Sparks from Steam engines ( Emergency stops on modern trains? ) or Vehicle crashes/ machinery fires ( overheated Bearings etc )?
And the remainder ? NO guesses – but I’m nae gonnae saigh either! You know the answer.
The son-in-law of a friend was a volunteer fireman in Australia;
Caught by drone when setting fires to the bush. He’s currently, doing jail time for arson !!!
“the area burnt was not even as great as 2022”
Well, 2022 was a major drought year for much of Europe. You might expect 2022 to be above average in terms of wildfires – and it does appear so from the graph. It is perhaps less surprising that 2023 is lower than 2022 as a result.
The real surprise to me is that 2022 is nowhere near as bad as some previous years, despite a fairly severe drought.