Six reasons why Spain's wildfires are so bad this year

At least 373,000 hectares (922,000 acres) of land have been burnt this Spain this year so far according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

This officially makes it the worst fire season since records began in 2006, surpassing 2022, when 306,000 hectares were scorched by flames.

The fires have also claimed a total of four victims, injured dozens and forced thousands to flee their homes.

Firefighters have repeatedly told the Spanish press that they've never had to face such violent blazes, dubbing them 'explosive wildfires' due to their capacity to spread faster and more unpredictably than usual.

Why are this year's wildfires in Spain proving so destructive and what are the conditions that led to this devastating consequences?

Climate change

Firstly, we cannot ignore climate change is one of the main factors involved as it's making Spain’s summers longer, drier and hotter with an increased number of heatwaves.

The last heatwave lasted a total of 16 days and was the third longest on record according to spokesperson for Spain's national weather Aemet José Luis Camacho. This is a similar length to the one experienced in 2022, which was, before this year, the worst for wildfires on record.

In simple terms, higher temperatures cause more moisture from soil and vegetation to evaporate, they dry out trees and grass and all this leaf litter and fallen branches becomes easy kindling.

Bizarre meteorological phenomenon's such as 'dry storms' and heat bursts have also been common this year in Spain and contributed to the propagation of wildfires.

READ MORE: What's the 'dry storm' phenomenon making Spain's wildfires worse?

Private land ownership

Much of Spain's forested land is privately owned, meaning that public service cannot manage them with the aim of preventing fires.

Specialist in Land Use Planning and spokesperson for Greenpeace Miguel Ángel Soto told Spanish radio station Onda Cero that "a large part of the forest is not owned by the state or the autonomous communities. It's private property whose owners no longer live in the village, but in cities like Bilbao, Madrid, or Barcelona."

Therefore, it’s not being managed properly and "it's become clear that the forest is not being managed," Víctor Fernández García, an expert in Forestry and Agricultural Engineering at the University of León, told BBC Mundo.

Abandonment of rural areas

Another reason that goes hand in hand with private ownership is that of abandonment of rural areas. Many areas of the country are suffering from depopulation as people move to the bigger cities and the coasts for work. Traditional farming and livestock farming has also been abandoned in favour of more profitable industries.

Fernández García explains that "previously, there was a landscape marked by small orchards or farms tended by those who farmed them, but many have been cleared, allowing weeds and other vegetation to spread, creating a more continuous landscape where fire spreads more quickly and easily”.

Soto of Greenpeace agrees saying "This creates abandoned areas, without management or extensive livestock farming. Forty percent of what has burned this year was former agricultural land covered with grass. Without livestock to consume it, it burns very quickly”, he added.

A wetter spring

Spain experienced a very wet spring this year. And although it was welcome after several years of intense drought, it has also been contributing to the intensity of the wildfires this year by providing more foliage to combust.

According to Spain's national weather agency Aemet, March 2025 was the third rainiest since records began. Only the months of March 2018 and 2013 were wetter in Spain as a whole.

The general director of the Madrid 112 Security and Emergency Agency, Pedro Ruiz explained though that “the rainy spring has favoured the continued accumulation of fuel that encourages the spread of fires”.

This all meant thicker and taller grasses and plants which act as the perfect kindling for wildfires.

Lack of prevention

Experts believe that efforts are being concentrated on putting fires out rather than preventing them in the first place.

Authorities are focusing on who is responsible, while those working in the field are calling for more in the prevention sphere.

Fernández García told BBC Mundo that he believes that options should be explored for using forest land and encouraging some form of occupation and exploitation of the countryside.

Other experts point out that public investment in forest maintenance and clean-up has steadily declined in recent years, and many private landowners lack the finances to manage their private parts of the forest.

Human-caused wildfires

So far this year, 977 forest fires have been recorded in Spain, and although 32 people have been arrested and 93 are under investigation for starting wildfires, there is no specific data on what percentage of these blazes were started on purpose by arsonists.

Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has claimed that as many as 80 percent of the recent fires were intentional. The latest annual report from Spain's State Attorney General's Office, published in 2024 with data from 2023, indicates that 19 percent of the fires investigated that year were intentional, and that 68 percent were caused by negligence.

Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition also estimates that on average 96 percent of fires "originate from human action" (intentional or negligent).

There have also been reports in the Spanish press about the alleged hunting interests behind some intentional fires such as the one in Aliseda in the Madrid region, but there is also plenty of fake news circulating on social media claiming that their other dark reasons for wanting to 'clear land', such as for building purposes or for setting up wind and solar farms.

There may not necessarily be an increase in the number of intentional wildfires in 2025, but human action is undeniably playing a key role in lighting the spark as it does most years.