Portugal wildfires: 30,000 hectares burned in 2026, the worst in Europe
Portugal has burned more than 30,000 hectares in 2026, the highest figure in Europe this year. The Vouzela fire alone consumed some 14,000 hectares in days.
Portugal now has the largest burned area in Europe in 2026: more than 30,000 hectares since January, roughly 42,000 football pitches. And July has barely started — over 15,000 hectares went up in smoke in the first five days of the month alone, the worst start to a month in almost a decade.
How much of Portugal has burned in 2026?
The counter stands at around 30,000 hectares across nearly 4,600 fires, making 2026 the second-worst year of the decade at this point and the worst comparable tally since the tragic summer of 2017. This year’s burned area has already doubled last year’s figure for the same period, with extreme heat and wind doing the rest.
What is happening with the Vouzela fire?
It is Europe’s biggest single fire this year: around 14,000 hectares consumed in a matter of days. It broke out in the small hours of 2 July in the parish of Cambra and spread into the municipalities of Oliveira de Frades, Tondela and Águeda, forcing village evacuations and mobilising more than a thousand firefighters at its peak. The scale pushed the government to call in international reinforcements, as we reported when Portugal asked Spain and the EU for help. Investigators also suspect arson, with two separate ignitions recorded on the same night.
With the country on heat alert, the risk map remains painted red across the northern and central interior. Official burned-area data is updated by the ICNF, and the municipality-by-municipality fire risk is published by the IPMA.
Summer has only just begun — and 2026 is already in the record books for all the wrong reasons.
Image: NuclearVacuum / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
