worst year for fires since 2011
The 2022 fire season scorched a staggering 267,939.64 hectares, up by 180,059.9 hectares from 2021 and nearly triple last year’s mark. This stands as the most destructive stretch in a decade, underscoring a record-breaking period for regional wildfires.
When set against 2021’s 87,966.09 hectares burned, the increase in 2022 translates to a 22.58% drop relative to the decade’s average being restored after a decline. In 2022, venture attempts (fires under one hectare) and the count of fires over one hectare both fell by about 22.77%, making 2011 the fourth year with the fewest fire incidents in the decade, yet 2022 marked a historic peak in total area burned.
Across the year there were 10,503 damage records, a staggering jump of 15,845% from 2021. Near misses rose by only 386 compared to the prior year, yet large forest fires (GIFs) exceeding 500 hectares surged, with 57 fires in 2022 versus 18 in 2021, more than three times higher.
Consequently, 2021 finished with the fourth-lowest number of fires in the 2011–2021 window, while 2022 stood out as the most severe year in the period from 2012 to 2022.
Compared with the decade’s average, the burned area in 2022 was 64.82% higher, approaching nearly three times the 2012–2022 mean. The arson of emergency operations stayed around 10,616 applications, mirroring the prior year’s figure, while the year saw a 0.963% share of national land affected, up from 0.316% in 2021 and near the ten-year average of 0.339%.
worst year since 2011
Regionally, woodland clearance and scrubland fires contributed to the spike, even as grassy areas burned remained similar to 2021 at about 19,730.50 hectares in 2022 and 19,798.16 hectares in 2021. Specifically, 115,174.02 hectares burned in 2022 for woodland and scrub, compared with 24,505.88 hectares in 2021 for wooded areas. The explosion of fires in bush and open forest areas climbed from 43,662.05 hectares in 2021 to 133,035.13 hectares in 2022.
Overall, the fiscal year just ended is the worst since 2011, lying roughly 48,983 hectares above the 2012 peak of 218,956 hectares for that era. This marks a stark shift in recent fire dynamics and highlights the ongoing risk to forested landscapes.
By region, the Northwest bore the largest share of claims, accounting for around 44.78% of the total, followed by inland communities with 37.06% and the Mediterranean with 17.73% of fires. The Canary Islands represented about 0.43% of total fires. In the Northwest, approximately 45.14% of affected woodland and 49.04% of wooded areas were burned; inland settlements saw 38.34% of wooded losses and 30.22% of forested areas burned, while the Mediterranean region reported 14.14% and 19.70% respectively. In the Canary Islands, 0.43% of incidents and 2.38% of affected woodland were burned, with 1.03% of forested areas devastated.