Politico announced the destruction of a territory larger than Cyprus by forest fires in the EU

This year, fires in the European Union (EU) countries have destroyed an area of over 1 million hectares. This was reported by Politico on August 22.

"Since January, fires have destroyed 1,016,000 hectares, an area larger than Cyprus or about a third of the area of Belgium," the publication says.

This year, for the first time since 2006, when the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) started keeping records, forest fires destroyed over 1 million hectares. The previous worst season was in 2017. Then natural fires destroyed a little less than 988 thousand hectares.

The columns are off scale: record heat has hit European countries

The region found itself in the epicenter of a climate catastrophe

On August 14, Bloomberg reported that thousands of residents and tourists had been evacuated due to large-scale forest fires in Greece and Spain. It is predicted that most of Greece, including Athens and the adjacent Attica region, will also face dangerous wildfires.

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