Damages from forest fires in Europe have exceeded €3 billion – Financial Times
The economic losses from wildfires and heat waves that have swept across a number of European countries have already reached 3.1 billion euros. This exceeds the average annual losses from such natural disasters across the European Union.
According to the Financial Times, in just the first two months of the fire season in Europe, fires destroyed nearly 500,000 hectares of land. France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Romania suffered the greatest losses, with total damages estimated at 3.1 billion euros.
As noted, this amount already exceeds the average annual losses for the entire EU, which the European Commission estimates at 2.5 billion euros. Over the past decade, losses exceeding 3 billion euros were recorded only in 2021.
In addition to the fires, the abnormal heat caused low water levels in the Rhine and Danube rivers, which negatively impacted industry and the energy sector. In particular, low water levels posed risks to the operation of a Hungarian nuclear power plant, and in Romania, one of the two reactors at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant had already been shut down.
In France, the fires forced the temporary suspension of production and the evacuation of employees at defense and aerospace companies, including Safran, Dassault Aviation, and ArianeGroup. According to the Gironde Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at least 40,000 businesses were affected by the disaster, nearly half of which were completely shut down by the end of July.
In Spain, the fires destroyed residential buildings, businesses, vehicles, and more than 18,500 hectares of farmland, primarily pastures.
This was reported by the Financial Times.
As a reminder, on August 3, Ukrainian rescue workers arrived in the Gironde department of France, where they will assist local services in fighting a large-scale wildfire.
Ukraine has sent a combined detachment of State Emergency Service (SES) rescuers to France to help extinguish the massive wildfires that have engulfed certain regions of the country. Ukrainian specialists will assist French services in extinguishing the fires and conducting rescue operations.
In France, most of the 224,000 people who were evacuated have been allowed to return home.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated that the wildfire situation in the country is generally under control, although the risk of new fires remains.
