Fire and ashes

Forest fires are a recurrent concern when the summer season begins. In fact, they have increased both in number and fierceness, and this fact is directly related to climate change. According to EFFIS (European Forest Fire Information System) data on fire seasons, 2022 was the worst year of the century: the area burnt in less than seven months already exceeded the total area burnt by fire in 2012, which was previously the worst year on record. By the middle of the summer season, the area burnt across the EU was three times the average of the last 15 years. As of August 6, 2022, Spain alone accounted for 40% (39.39%) of the total in the European Union in 2022, i.e. 235,575 hectares out of a total of 600,731 hectares. The worst fire in the history of Galicia, one of the regions in Europe which faces the greatest threat from forest fires, occurred this summer in O Courel. Part of it had already burned last year. The O Courel mountainous region is one of the most valuable natural areas in Europe.