First up a dataviz from the European Environment Agency
Burnt area in European countries
Created 23 Nov 2021 Published 25 Nov 2021 Last modified 28 Mar 2022
Data are supplied by the countries for the annual reports "Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 20nn" series.[expected update - April 2024]
See also: "EFFIS Related Publications"
And from VSquare (Investigating Central Europe) February 8:
Are we ready for a mega-fire in Central Europe?
Large forest and grassland fires are one of the most dramatic consequences of the ongoing climate catastrophe. Year after year, media coverage of fires ravaging Canada, Australia, Greece or Portugal is increasing; rising temperatures, however, mean that the threat is growing in many areas of the world – including Central Europe.
The fire was spotted by a farmer working in a field. It was hard to believe that the marshes and wetlands of the Polish Biebrza River could be on fire – but the drought in the fall of 2020 made peat more like straw. Strong winds intensified the fire and hampered rescue efforts. 1,500 firefighters – professionals and volunteers – battled it for a week. It covered 5,500 hectares of extremely valuable natural areas.
The fire in the Biebrza National Park shocked Poles, who followed media coverage of its extinguishing for days. It seemed like an incomprehensible freak of nature. Unfortunately, as climate change continues, we may see such images more and more often. Are we prepared for it?
We decided to compare the degree of preparedness for this threat in three countries: we started with Portugal, which has been dealing with wildfires for years, then looked at Hungary, where climate warming is becoming more and more noticeable, and ended with Poland, where awareness of the threat is still negligible. What can Central European countries learn from what is already happening in the south of our continent? Are they prepared for the worst case scenarios?
....MUCH MORE
If interested in some historical comparisons see "When Europe Was Burning: The Multi-season Mega-drought of 1540 and Arsonist Paranoia" in Historical Disaster Experiences,
Pfister, C. (2017). When Europe Was Burning: The Multi-season Mega-drought of 1540 and Arsonist Paranoia. In: Schenk, G. (eds) Historical Disaster Experiences. Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49163-9_8
They were rougher on arsonists than present-day Europeans are.
