Written by Manya Shiel Spain, Germany, and Greece have been facing the worst of Europe's extraordinary heat wave that has seen temperatures rising to record highs even before the official start of the summer (with the summer solstice, June 21), and wildfires have ravaged all three countries. In Spain, the Sierra de la Culebra mountain range in the province of Zamora is the worst affected, with fires destroying almost 25,000 hectares and forcing the evacuation of residents of 18 municipalities. Wildfires are also raging in Lleida, Tarragona, and Garraf in northeastern Catalonia. In Germany, winds fanned the flames 50 km southwest of the capital Berlin, and residents of Frohnsdorf, Tiefenbrunnen, Klausdorf were asked to evacuate to the town of Treuenbrietzen. The second major wildfire in two years is burning in Evia, the second largest island of Greece. The mountainside in Gaia is aflame less than a kilometre from human habitation, and firefighting aircraft are battling the blaze. How do forests catch fire? A wildfire is a major fire that breaks out unpredictably in combustible environments such as dry forests or bush, and often burns uncontrollably over a large area and length of time. A forest fire can be triggered by natural factors such as prolonged hot, dry weather or lightning strikes, or human carelessness. Wildfires require a "fire triangle" of fuel, oxygen, and heat in order to grow and spread, and can be extinguished when at least one of the three elements is removed. One of the reasons wildfires cause immense destruction is the speed of their spread, which depends on the weather, winds, fuel, and topography. High temperatures and droughts have contributed to devastating wildfires in California, Australia, Brazil, and southern Europe. Slopes, especially those that face the sun and retain more heat, are more prone to catching fire. How bad have forest fires been in Europe of late? According to The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), 2021 was the second worst fire season for Europe since the EFFIS started keeping records of wildfires in 2000. A total 206,013 million hectares burned in Turkey, 159,537 million hectares in Italy, and 134,273 million hectares in Algeria. While 25% of the total burnt area constituted agricultural lands, about 28% comprised forests. 2018 saw record fires in Europe, especially in the central and northern regions of the continent. Droughts and heatwaves in 2017 and 2018 drove the wildfires. Are the fires a result of climate change? Climate change is estimated to have made heat waves 5 to 10 times worse than they were about a century ago. Global warming, a man-made phenomenon, is leading to extreme weather events such as hotter temperatures, droughts, famines, rain, and floods, which disrupt natural weather cycles. Europe's earliest heatwave this year sent the mercury past 40 degrees Celsius, temperatures that are expected only in July or August. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox May 2022 marked the highest level of carbon dioxide recorded in the Earth's atmosphere, being about 420 ppm (parts per million), levels that haven't been seen in 4 million years. Carbon dioxide traps heat, creating conditions for heatwaves, droughts, and fires. The wildfires in Greece, Spain and Germany have all been linked to hotter temperatures and low humidity caused by climate change. (Manya Shiel is an intern with The Indian Express)
