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Spain sees wildfire damage more than double in the first quarter of 2026
Almost 13,000 hectares have burned so far this year, although no major fires have been recorded
Wildfires have burned 12,946.66 hectares across Spain in the first three months of 2026, more than twice the amount seen over the same period last year. The figure is 2.2 times higher than in 2025, when 5,822.12 hectares were affected between January and March.The provisional report from the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge says this makes 2026 the fifth worst year of the last decade so far for land affected by forest fires. Only 2016, 2025, 2018 and 2024 recorded comparable or higher figures in the same period. Even so, the area burned up to March is still 29.6% below the average for the last ten years.
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A total of 1,568 incidents were recorded in the first quarter. Of these, 864 were small fires, meaning they affected one hectare or less. So far, no major fires have been registered, with the Ministry defining those as fires affecting more than 500 hectares.
Most of the incidents were concentrated in the northwest, which accounted for 60.20% of the total. The Mediterranean area made up 12.82%, inland communities 26.72% and the Canary Islands 0.26%. When it comes to woodland affected, the northwest again saw the largest share at 48.31%, followed by the Mediterranean with 44.55% and inland communities with 7.15%.
The pattern is similar for total forest area. The northwest accounted for 89.55% of the damage, while the Mediterranean represented 4.36% and inland communities 6.09%. In terms of vegetation lost, 997.87 hectares of woodland were burned, along with 7,835.65 hectares of scrubland and open woodland, plus 4,113.13 hectares of pasture and meadowland.
The figures show that, while the start of 2026 has been worse than the same period last year, the biggest fire season is still ahead. For now, the main concern is the scale of the early damage and the concentration of incidents in the northwest, which continues to bear the heaviest burden.
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Image: Emre Beyen/Pexels
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