Wildfires are becoming a European summer norm, and our health systems are not ready

Wildfires are becoming part of every European summer. They are no longer rare events. In a recent statement from World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, highlighted that wildfires burnt through 2.2 million hectares of land across the region in 2025, up 57% from just four years earlier. In Portugal and Spain, wildfires have already increased by more than 100% this year compared with the same period last year.

Recent data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service shows that smoke from wildfires in France this year is some of the worst seen in over 20 years. In the city of Bordeaux, the air has been up to 20 times more polluted than what the WHO says is safe to breathe over a day. In Madrid, air pollution has reached up to six times that WHO limit.

Having experienced wildfires in Greece and living with cystic fibrosis, I know that the danger is not just the fire itself. For many people, the smoke causes the biggest problems. Unlike everyday air pollution, wildfire smoke can arrive very quickly and make the air much harder to breathe. Many people become breathless, cough or wheeze when there is a lot of smoke in the air, but for people living with lung conditions, their symptoms can get worse very quickly. Smoke does not stay where the fire is. It travels, and so does its impact on people’s health.

The increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires is frightening, and a reminder that we cannot separate our health from the health of our environment. This summer, that reality is playing out across our community: more medication use, more hospital visits, and for some, far worse outcomes.

Hospitals and health services feel the pressure when the air is more polluted, often without extra staff or support to cope. Policymakers across Europe need to see this and make it a priority to prepare health services, so that when the next wildfire season comes, healthcare providers are ready and equipped to provide the best possible care for people living with a lung condition.

Europe’s politicians also need to act, and urgently bring in policies that cut emissions and stop climate breakdown, so that we face fewer of these dangerous summers in future.

This is what we are calling for in our Defend Science, Protect Public Health campaign with the European Respiratory Society: we urgently need properly funded health services, as well as climate and health policies that follow the science and put public health first, not corporate interests.

Learn more about the Defend Science campaign