Wildfires have scorched more than 1.028 million hectares of land across the European Union this year, the largest area since record-keeping began in 2006, according to the EU’s European Forest Fire Information System. Spain and Portugal account for roughly two-thirds of the damage after a mid-August heatwave pushed temperatures above 40 °C and dried vegetation across the Iberian Peninsula. Spain, where over 350,000 hectares have burned in little more than two weeks, on Tuesday designated disaster zones in 16 of its 17 autonomous communities. The cabinet decision unlocks direct financial aid, tax exemptions and other relief for affected households and businesses. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska called the blazes “one of the country’s worst environmental catastrophes in recent years,” noting four fatalities, thousands of evacuations and 15 large fires that remain active despite cooler weather forecasts. In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters have contained the country’s largest recorded blaze, which devastated 64,451 hectares across seven central municipalities. The prolonged outbreak, sparked by lightning and fought by nearly 1,000 firefighters, has contributed to four fire-related deaths nationwide and prompted emergency funding for home reconstruction and agricultural losses. The scale of the destruction has intensified political debate over preparedness. Spain’s opposition Popular Party accused the Sánchez administration of slow action and proposed a 50-point prevention plan, while ministers countered that all available national and foreign resources had been deployed. Scientists warn that longer, drier summers linked to climate change are raising both the frequency and severity of Europe’s wildfire seasons, straining firefighting capacity across the continent.