site.btaBulgaria Is among EU Countries Most Affected by Forest Fires in 2024

Bulgaria is among the EU countries most severely affected by forest fires in 2024, together with Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. These five member states account for 334,940 hectares of the EU’s total burned area, according to the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) 2024 wildfire report released by the European Commission Friday.

The report confirms that Europe’s wildfire season is becoming longer, more intense and increasingly unpredictable. Large fires have risen every year since 2017, and the 2024 data reinforce this upward trend.

Across the EU, the 2024 fire season ended with 383,317 hectares burned — lower than the 500,000 hectares lost in 2023, partly due to irregular spring and summer rainfall in the Mediterranean, but still significantly above long-term averages.

A total of 8,343 fires were recorded in 2024, more than four times the 17-year average.

Data from the European Forest Fire Information System show that the characteristics of wildfires in Europe are changing, with seasons starting earlier, ending later, and generating more large-scale events. Early data for the 2025 season confirm the same trajectory: 2025 is expected to be the worst year since records began in 2006.