Flames of Fury: The Unrelenting Path of Wildfires
Portugal wildfires took place in 2017, burning a record five hundred hectares of land, leading to the death of more than one hundred and twenty humans, becoming the costliest natural disaster of that nation in the minds of the local insurance sector, with the prime minister Antonio Costa declaring three days of national mourning.
The Greek wildfire happened a year later, destroying 1,260 hectares of land, leading to the death of about 194 people, turning out to be one of the most painful tragedies in that part of the world, with 40,000 pine and olive trees, along with 4,000 homes, destroyed.
The Australian bushfires took the centerstage of recent wildfires between 2019 and 2020, burning an estimated 24.3 million hectares of land, leading to the death of at least 44 persons, destroying over 3,000 buildings, with up to 1.5 billion wild animals believed to have perished, and 15 percent of all known roosting locations of the gray-headed flying fox directly impacted.
It seems wildfires have become a new normal, and it's not surprising that the Los Angeles wildfire joined its recent ancestors, burning about 60 square kilometers, an area the size of Paris, more than 92,000 county residents under evacuation orders, some 89,000 under evacuation warnings, and more than 24 people dead.
Heatwave in June 2017 allowed temperature to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in many parts of Portugal, while Hurricane Ophelia increased wind speed for the massive growth of fire when it swept off the coast of the country in that year, with drought conditions over time creating the situation for the stupendous fire outbreak.
Heat waves in July 2018 enabled temperatures to hit around 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Greece in the days preceding the wildfires in that country, while wind gusting to over 50 miles per hour helped the current to burn through mostly forested areas, with poor planning worsening the condition when the wildfires broke.
Heat waves allowed temperatures to reach 1.52 degrees Celsius above the 1961-90 average in Australia in 2018, surpassing the previous record of 1.33 degrees Celsius in 2013, with rainfall well below the previous record low of 314.5 mm established in 1902, with strong westerly winds helping to spread the fire.
Just like the Los Angeles wildfire, heat waves allow temperatures to reach record levels, and wildfires emerge with strong winds and drought, the entire situation suggesting that climate change might be worsening fires ignited by human or natural factors such as lightning.
In 2024, wildfires burned 143,313 hectares of land in Portugal, a considerable increase over the numbers from 2006 to 2023, enabling a 34 percent loss of tree cover in that country between 2001 and 2023, with the country the most affected by wildfires in Europe over the past decade.
In 2024, wildfires decimated about 41,784 hectares of land in Greece, slightly less than 42,900 hectares of land destroyed in the year before, with experts predicting a 14 percent increase in extreme wildfires by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.
During the 2019/2020 incident, Australian wildfires raged across the eastern part of the nation for many months, causing millions of Australians to breathe in dangerous particles, deadly wildfires blanketing parts of the country in smoke for months, walking around Sydney equivalent to smoking 37 cigarettes per day.
Obviously, as the Los Angeles wildfires show, the phenomenon entails colossal losses, and if nations refuse to tackle climate change, the number of the wildfires could increase by up to 14 percent by 2030 and by 30 percent by the end of 2050, and by 50 percent by the end of the century.
Of course many issues cause wildfires, but their effects could be less damaging if nations address the root cause of climate change, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the transitioning to renewable energy sources, increasing energy efficiency, and promoting sustainable land use practices.
What to Eat
Vegan food from Portugal, Credit, Greatvalueholidays.com