Devastating wildfires swept through wealthier regions of the world in 2025, causing severe loss of life, homes, and livelihoods, even as the total area burned globally fell to its second-lowest level since 2002, according to a new study.
Global Burn Area Declines, but Impacts Intensify
The review found that 335 million hectares burned last year, a significant drop largely attributed to the expansion of African farms, which have fragmented landscapes and hindered the spread of large savannah fires. However, catastrophic blazes in California, Canada, Europe, and South Korea proved exceptionally destructive.
Key Wildfire Events of 2025
- A Scottish megafire scorched over 100,000 hectares, contributing to the UK's record for burned area.
- The Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles ranked among the most destructive in US history.
- Record-breaking fires in Spain and Portugal burned more than half a million hectares.
- South Korea experienced its largest and deadliest wildfire season on record.
Fires accounted for more than 38% of insured losses from weather disasters in 2025, highlighting the growing financial toll.
Disconnect Between Burn Area and Real-World Impact
Matthew Jones, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia and lead author of the study, noted: "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."
Changes in land use have reduced the area burned historically, but global heating creates conditions that allow fires to spread more explosively, particularly at the wildland-urban interface where people are most at risk.
Climate Change Fuels Extreme Fire Weather
Adverse weather, exacerbated by carbon pollution, turned some fires into infernos. In southern California and South Korea, high winds and dry vegetation drove fires through densely populated areas, causing exceptional mortality, mass evacuations, and major infrastructure losses. In the Mediterranean, drought and extreme heat drove severe blazes from Portugal to Turkey.
David Garcia, an applied mathematician at the University of Alicante, explained: "These conditions do not cause the fires, but in the event of a fire, we have material that is more flammable than usual – because it is drier – and wind conditions that fan the flames. This makes large fires more likely to occur."
Attribution and Emissions
An attribution study co-authored by Garcia found that extreme weather fueling fires in Portugal and Spain last year was made 39 times more likely by climate breakdown. He warned: "If we continue to warm the planet, large-scale fires will continue to increase."
The overall reduction in global burned area led to a drop in carbon dioxide emissions to their third-lowest level on record. However, Canada experienced extreme wildfire emissions for the third consecutive year. Since 2023, boreal forests in North America have emitted close to 4 billion tonnes of CO2, exceeding total emissions from the preceding 15-year period.
Health Impacts of Wildfire Smoke
Wildfire smoke contains toxic particles that cause significant health problems. A study published in September found that Canadian wildfires in 2023 killed 82,000 people, with smoke choking cities in the US, Europe, and Africa.
Adrián Regos, a landscape ecologist at the Biological Mission of Galicia, Spain, emphasized that a relatively small number of extreme fires can dominate the ecological, social, and economic consequences of an entire fire season. He stated: "The broader pattern highlighted by this study is consistent with what we are observing across southern Europe: while total burned area may fluctuate from year to year, climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme fire-weather conditions, and fuel accumulation associated with rural abandonment is making many landscapes more vulnerable to large, fast-moving fires."
Regos concluded: "The challenge is therefore not only reducing the number of fires, but increasing the resilience of landscapes and communities to extreme events."
