The area burned this year in Portugal ranks as the fifth highest of the decade, revealing a significant impact of wildfires in the country during this period.
However, compared to the previous year, the data shows a positive trend regarding the territorial extent affected. This year, 187,046 fewer hectares burned, representing a reduction of 73.5% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Conversely, the number of fires increased. There were 434 more fires recorded, corresponding to a growth of 6.7% compared to the same period of the previous year.
These contradictory data — less area burned but more fires — suggest that, although more fire episodes occurred, they were generally smaller in size or more quickly controlled.
