Worst July on record for Europe forest fires: EU

With the European forest fire season barely underway, EU figures show that last month was the worst July on record and one of the worst months ever recorded for outbreaks.
The news came as Spain confirmed that a a 44-year-old female firefighter had become the first victim of the forest fires sweeping Spain.

Spain's Canary Islands are meanwhile continuing to battle two major fires which have ravaged some 350 square kilometres (135 square miles) of land in recent days and forced the evacuation of thousands of people.

The situation in southwest Europe, which had relatively moderate conditions in July, "has changed dramatically, particularly in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands" in recent days, the European Commission said in a statement.

Experts have warned that the fires on Spain's Canary islands are an environmental catastrophe with some 20 percent of forests on the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria burned. Reforestation is expected to take years.

The Gran Canaria fire is the largest in the history of the archipelago.

Provisional figures from the European Forest Fire Information System show that 3,376 square kilometres of land has already been burned in Europe this year, compared to a total of 3,585 square kilometres in 2006, with July 2007 one of the worst-ever months on record, said European Commission spokeswoman Antonia Mochan.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Italy were also badly hit by the forest fires, accounting for over 2,200 square kilometres of the devastation.

The most recent Spanish fires were not included in the EU figures released Thursday.

"In order to seek help with fighting its forest fires, Spain has invoked the International Charter on major disasters" that aims to proved a unified system of satellite imagery to help those affected by natural or man-made disasters, Mochan told reporters.

EFFIS, which monitors forest fires in 19 EU and non-EU countries, forecasts continued risk from forest fires for the days ahead. Its record goes back over 20 years for some EU nations with other countries including Finland providing information for only the past few years.