Record wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting cost

Wildfires burning in the Aspres region of southern France over the weekend. Photograph: JC Milhet/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Wildfires burning in the Aspres region of southern France over the weekend. Photograph: JC Milhet/AFP/Getty Images Analysis Record wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting cost Ajit Niranjan Europe environment correspondent Scientists call for better land management alongside reduction in greenhouse gases causing the crisis When storm after storm battered the Mediterranean at the start of the year, drowning fields and sending water spurting from plug sockets , few people were fretting about fires. But just four months later, the murky brown floods that swamped towns and fouled homes across western Europe have given way to angry red blazes and choking black smoke . Rampant wildfires burned 28,000 hectares (69,160 acres) in France and 50,000 hectares in Spain as of 1 July, more than double the average for that time of year, and more land has been charred by bigger fires in the week since. Scientists have found the record-breaking heat that scorched Europe in June would have been “ virtually impossible ” if the climate had not been warped by burning fossil fuels, with daytime highs 10 times more likely than just two decades ago, and night-time lows 100 times more likely. Now, they are wondering if the early rains, too, contributed to the fires. “If a period of active vegetation growth is followed by a period of drought and heat, vegetation becomes stressed and transforms into flammable wildfire fuel,” said Julia Miller, a climate scientist at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, and lead author of a recent study on compounding wildfire risks. View image in fullscreen Damage from wildfires in the town of Montalba-le-Château, near Perpignan in France, on Tuesday. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images In Spain, the hot start to the summer was preceded by a rain-heavy winter and spring that helped plants grow. In much of the country, surface soil moisture was above the seasonal average from March to May, data from Copernicus shows, as well as unusually high river flow driven by an “exceptionally wet winter” in the Iberian peninsula. But when a freak heatwave hit western Europe in late May, followed by an even more punishing one at the end of June, the extra vegetation dried up fast. Scientists have cited the combination of a wet spring and hot summer as a factor in Spain’s record-breaking wildfire season last year, finding that high vegetation water content – which at first reduced fire potential – was lost during long heatwaves, leaving behind an extensive fuel surplus. “In most parts of Europe , there is enough vegetation to burn,” said Miller. “The critical question is when that vegetation becomes dry enough to burn.” Climate breakdown can worsen weather extremes in unexpected ways. Long periods of dry weather can make torrential downpours more likely to result in f