The ongoing wildfire crisis in Europe is challenging the EU's emergency response system, revealing a mismatch between rising firefighting capabilities and the slower pace of efforts to reduce landscape flammability. This summer has brought record-breaking wildfires to the continent.
Data indicates that 1.407 fires have been recorded, releasing 17.98 million tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere. A European Commission representative highlighted how wildfires now spread faster than the response teams can contain them. Since 2024, the EU has worked on creating a more comprehensive wildfire strategy, including new financing, a revamped fleet, a new hub in Cyprus, and a policy shift toward prevention rather than just suppression. More than 434,976 hectares have burned across the EU so far, according to the July 30th data from the European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS). In 2025, more than one million hectares burned, making it the worst wildfire season since records began.
Tools for Fighting Wildfires in the EU
The EU's Civil Protection Mechanism is the mainstay of its approach. It allows one country experiencing a crisis to call on other member states for assistance. However, this system does not automatically trigger support. Requests usually come after a fire becomes too large for local teams to handle.
The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in Brussels operates around the clock, pairing incoming offers of aircraft, personnel, and equipment with the nations in need. It also provides partial funding for moving these resources. The rescEU program functions as a backup, offering firefighting aircraft and helicopters when national and shared reserves are insufficient. rescEU is adding twelve firefighting planes and five helicopters.
The European Civil Protection Pool adds another layer of support, with national teams and gear pledged for use across the EU. Also part of the system are Copernicus, a satellite service that generates up to-date maps of fire zones and vulnerable infrastructure, and the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which predicts fire risks up to ten days in advance and tracks active blazes every few hours. The Commission is also reinforcing the European Forest Fire Information System, its satellite-based early warning and risk-forecasting tool, and plans to propose a council recommendation on integrated wildfire risk management, alongside a dedicated EU portal by 2027 to share funding routes and lessons learned with member states newly facing fire risk.
In preparation for 2026’s wildfire season, the EU had 22 firefighting planes, 5 helicopters, 777 firefighters from 14 different countries, and 21 certified teams ready in 12 locations. As fires in Iberia and France grew, France obtained 7 planes and 4 helicopters, sourced from Czechia, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, and Türkiye.
Five Canadian aircraft were also deployed, split between France and Spain. Commissioner Hadja Lahbib acknowledged the strain on the system but claimed it remains functional.
A Strategy Not Yet in Place
In March, the Commission released a document on integrated wildfire risk management, proposing a new approach focused on prevention, readiness, response, and recovery as one ongoing process. This is meant to move beyond the old, reactive strategy of fighting fires seasonally and tackle the root causes of landscape flammability. The break came in March 2026 when the Commission launched its Integrated Wildfire Risk Management strategy, a formal move away from a response-led model toward one built on four pillars: prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery, with prevention first.
Four months after this plan was announced, most of the ideas remained unimplemented. Jessika Roswall, the Environment Commissioner, told agriculture ministers in late May that no new forest management initiatives are in the works and that no fresh guidelines or indicators are on the horizon. The only semi-binding document, a recommendation on wildfire risk management adopted on 29 June, does not have legal force.
Forest management continues to be handled at the national level. A minority of countries, mainly Sweden and Finland, often joined by France, have resisted giving the EU more authority. These nations have previously delayed the Nature Restoration Law in 2024 and resisted proposed changes to the Forest Monitoring Law.
Alexander Held, a forester at the European Forest Institute’s Pan-European Forest Risk Facility, said it’s incorrect to blame fires solely on climate change. He has observed a 25-year shift in fire patterns, with blazes now occurring from Turkey through Greece, Spain, Portugal, and France, breaking the old seasonal boundaries. He also pointed out that fires are appearing in places such as Iceland, Greenland, and the Arctic, showing how fire geography is changing. However, he emphasized that climate change is a contributing factor, but not the only one.