A new study has revealed that 2025 was the most financially devastating year on record for wildfires, with catastrophic blazes across the United States, South Korea, and Europe claiming around 90 lives and displacing approximately 300,000 people.
Wildfires Dominate Insured Losses
According to the research, wildfires accounted for 38 per cent of all insured natural hazard losses globally in 2025, surpassing the combined impact of hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. This occurred despite the total area burned being the second lowest since records began in 2002 and 16 per cent below the long-term average. The findings suggest a shift in wildfire behaviour: fewer fires overall but with greater intensity and impact on populated areas.
Dr Matthew Jones of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, who led the study, stated: "2025 shows that a 'quiet' fire year globally can still be devastating. We are seeing a growing disconnect between total area burned and real-world impacts, with risk increasingly determined by fire location, intensity and exposure."
Costliest Events of 2025
The single most expensive event was the Palisades and Eaton fires in the Los Angeles area in January 2025. Driven by extreme Santa Ana winds and critically dry vegetation, these fires burned over 20,000 hectares, directly killed 31 people, destroyed nearly 12,000 homes, and forced around 150,000 evacuations. Smoke exposure affected more than 10 million people, with pollution levels nearly 20 times the World Health Organization's daily guideline for fine particulate matter. Total losses were estimated at $140 billion (£110 billion), with insured losses approaching $40 billion (£32 billion), making it the fifth costliest natural disaster in recorded history.
In March 2025, South Korea experienced its deadliest and largest wildfire outbreak. Extreme heat, dryness, and winds drove fires that burned over 100,000 hectares, killed 32 people, and displaced tens of thousands. A study found that climate change made the fire-prone conditions twice as likely.
During the summer, severe drought and repeated heatwaves triggered major wildfires in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and France, killing at least 28 people and forcing 120,000 evacuations. Six countries simultaneously requested firefighting resources through the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism. Spain recorded its largest burned area since 2002, with over 350,000 hectares affected and eight deaths. Portugal saw its largest wildfire on record, ignited by lightning. In Turkey, fires around Izmir forced 50,000 evacuations, and a separate fire in July killed 10 firefighters. France experienced its largest fire since 1949, burning 17,000 hectares in 72 hours.
The United Kingdom also suffered its largest burned area on record and its first megafire, exceeding 10,000 hectares, on Dava Moor in Scotland during a severe heatwave.
Climate Change Link
World Weather Attribution found that the fire-prone conditions driving the worst European outbreaks were 5 to 40 times more likely in the current climate than in a world without climate change.
In Canada, 2025 marked the third consecutive year of extreme wildfire emissions, primarily from boreal forests. Since 2023, fires in North American boreal forests have released roughly four billion tonnes of CO2, exceeding the combined emissions of the preceding 15 years. Repeated burning may prevent forest recovery, turning carbon stores into net emission sources that accelerate warming.
Broader Trends and Future Risks
The study identifies a trend: as savannah burning in Africa declines, extreme fires are increasing in temperate and high-latitude regions with denser forests, greater community exposure, and intensifying climate-driven drought and heatwaves. Population growth at the wildland-urban interface is also raising the number of people in the path of fast-moving fires.
Professor Crystal Kolden of the University of California, Merced, a co-author, said: "Deadly human-caused wildfires in California, Europe and South Korea in the same year as extensive consumption of carbon stocks in Canada highlights how rapidly climate change is producing conditions for extreme wildfires to thrive across a range of biomes and seasons. The co-occurrence of multiple devastating fires is particularly problematic, hampering resource sharing between countries and putting more civilians at risk. Unfortunately future fire projections show these types of outbreaks will only increase."
Dr Jones warned that without decisive action, "societies will continue to face escalating human, economic and environmental risks in an era of more extreme fires." The researchers call for rapid cuts in fossil fuel emissions, along with stronger adaptation measures such as proactive vegetation management, resilient infrastructure, and improved evacuation planning for increasingly fire-prone landscapes.
