Wildfires have struck countries across several continents in 2026, turning what is usually described as a seasonal hazard into a much broader global story.
The year began with major fires in the Southern Hemisphere, including Australia, Chile, Argentina and South Africa. By spring, significant fire activity was being recorded across parts of Asia. Then, during the Northern Hemisphere summer, Canada, the United States and large parts of Europe faced their own serious outbreaks.
Between January and April alone, fires burned more than 150 million hectares worldwide, according to data cited by World Weather Attribution researchers. Asia accounted for roughly 44 million hectares of that total, while Africa recorded particularly extensive burning.
The situation has continued evolving, so this list covers countries with significant or clearly documented wildfire, forest-fire or wildland-fire activity reported in 2026 through August 14. It is not intended to count every small vegetation fire recorded worldwide.
1. Australia
Australia entered 2026 with a major bushfire emergency in the southeast. Victoria was particularly badly hit in January, when extreme heat and strong winds helped fires spread across hundreds of thousands of hectares. More than 300 structures were destroyed as the fires swept through bushland, farming districts and small communities. Authorities described the outbreak as the state’s worst fire event since the devastating 2019-20 Black Summer season.
2. Argentina
Argentina faced destructive wildfires in Patagonia almost as soon as the year began. Chubut province became one of the main hotspots, with flames burning through native forest, plantations and scrubland around popular mountain areas. By late January, provincial authorities said more than 44,000 hectares had been affected, while subsequent reporting put the wider burned area at around 50,000 hectares. The fires also threatened Los Alerces National Park, an area known for ancient forests.
3. Chile
Chile suffered one of the deadliest wildfire disasters of the year. January fires in the Ñuble and Bío Bío regions spread quickly during extreme heat and strong winds, forcing mass evacuations and destroying homes. At least 19 people were reported killed, and the government declared a state of catastrophe in the hardest-hit regions. More than 20,000 hectares had burned by January 21.
4. South Africa
South Africa’s summer fire season was particularly severe. Wildfires affected both the Western Cape and Eastern Cape early in the year, forcing evacuations and road closures and threatening farms, wildlife facilities and communities. Reuters described the country in February as experiencing its worst wildfires in years, part of a wider run of extreme heat and fire across the Southern Hemisphere.
5. Canada
Canada’s fire season started comparatively slowly but accelerated dramatically during the summer. By late July, nearly 900 fires were burning around the country and more than 3.7 million hectares had been affected. Ontario and British Columbia were among the areas facing serious outbreaks, with evacuations ordered in remote and First Nations communities. By early August, Canadian authorities had registered around 4,500 fires for the year and close to four million hectares burned.
6. United States
The United States also experienced an intense 2026 wildfire season. By mid-August, the National Interagency Fire Center reported more than 46,000 wildfires and over 6.4 million acres burned nationwide — both well above the recent 10-year averages. Large fires affected several western and central states, stretching firefighting resources and contributing to widespread smoke problems.
7. Mexico
Mexico recorded thousands of forest fires during the first part of 2026. By mid-April, official CONAFOR figures cited by El País showed 2,565 fires affecting more than 132,500 hectares. The State of Mexico, Jalisco and Mexico City were among the most affected areas, while some fires also reached protected ecosystems.
8. Pakistan
Pakistan saw repeated forest fires during an intense spell of late-spring heat. Fires broke out in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills in May, while additional outbreaks were reported in Murree, Rawalpindi, Lower Dir and Mansehra. More than 20 fires were contained in the Murree and Rawalpindi forest divisions over just four days at the end of May, while firefighters in mountainous parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa struggled with steep terrain, high temperatures and strong winds.
9. India
India experienced hundreds of forest fires during the spring and early summer. Uttarakhand alone reported 373 incidents that had burned roughly 318 hectares by late May, while significant fires were also reported in Rajasthan and protected areas including Kudremukh National Park. On a wider scale, researchers identified India as one of the Asian countries experiencing unusually high fire activity during the first four months of 2026.
10. Myanmar
Myanmar was another major Asian fire hotspot. Global monitoring recorded thousands of hectares burned in individual wildfire events, while satellite observations showed extensive fire activity during the country’s dry season. One January event tracked by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System covered more than 5,000 hectares. Myanmar was later listed among the Asian countries worst affected by fire activity in early 2026.
11. Thailand
Northern Thailand endured weeks of forest fires and heavy haze during March and April. Chiang Mai and surrounding provinces were among the areas most affected, with thousands of hotspots detected as wildfires and agricultural burning combined to produce dangerous air pollution. By mid-April, three provinces had declared emergencies because of the smoke and persistent fires.
12. Laos
Large forest fires were recorded in Laos during the spring dry season. Sangthong district was particularly hard hit, with more than 1,400 hectares burned inside the Phou Phanang National Protected Area by April 14. Laos was also identified by researchers as one of the Asian countries experiencing elevated fire activity during the first part of 2026.
13. China
China recorded major wildland fire activity during the first months of the year. A forest fire tracked in March burned around 14,390 hectares, according to Global Wildfire Information System data carried by GDACS. Earlier, a fast-moving forest fire had also swept through mountains near Shenzhen in January. China was among the countries highlighted for elevated Asian fire activity during early 2026.
14. Japan
Japan faced one of its biggest wildfires in decades when fires erupted around Ōtsuchi in Iwate Prefecture in April. More than 1,300 hectares had burned by April 26, and authorities deployed about 1,400 firefighters as dry weather and strong winds complicated efforts to contain the flames. Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate before the main fire was finally brought under control in early May.
15. Spain
Spain became one of the main centres of Europe’s 2026 wildfire emergency. Large fires struck Guadalajara, Ávila, Madrid, Aragón, Castellón and other regions during repeated heatwaves. A Guadalajara blaze grew to tens of thousands of hectares, while fires around Madrid and Ávila forced tens of thousands of residents and tourists to leave their homes. By August 10, more than 244,000 hectares had burned across Spain.
16. France
France endured an exceptional summer fire season, particularly in the southwest. Huge fires spread through Gironde and areas surrounding Bordeaux, with mass evacuations affecting holiday resorts, villages and communities around the city. A later blaze in Landes forced hundreds more people to leave their homes. By August, authorities said the country had experienced its worst wildfire season on record.
17. Portugal
Portugal was placed on high alert during periods of extreme summer heat and fought several substantial wildfires. On July 3, more than 2,800 firefighters, hundreds of vehicles and dozens of aircraft were battling six fires, including a major blaze in Viseu district. Lisbon also requested additional firefighting support through European and bilateral arrangements as conditions deteriorated.
18. Italy
Italy faced repeated wildfires during July, including numerous fires on Sicily. The blazes damaged olive groves, strained emergency services and forced evacuations as extremely hot and dry conditions spread across the Mediterranean. More than 100 people were reportedly evacuated during one wave of fires on the island.
19. Greece
Greece experienced several dangerous outbreaks during July and August. Fires around Attica, Crete, Kefalonia and other areas forced evacuations and destroyed homes and farmland. Three firefighters had died by late July, and in August two crew members were killed when firefighting helicopters collided while battling a blaze northwest of Athens. Another major fire in Halkidiki forced more than 300 people to escape by sea.
20. Turkey
Turkey battled wildfires in several parts of the country during the summer, particularly in the southwest. Firefighting aircraft and helicopters were deployed against fires in Muğla and other areas, while evacuations were reported around parts of Muğla and Antalya as high temperatures and dry vegetation increased the danger.
21. Croatia
Croatia faced several fires during the summer, including outbreaks on the island of Vis and the Dalmatian coast. The most dramatic came in August near Omiš, where a wind-driven wildfire swept through more than 1,000 hectares, engulfed homes and woodland, injured dozens of people and forced around 1,000 residents and tourists into emergency shelters.
22. Albania
Albania dealt with repeated wildfires as the Balkans baked under extreme summer temperatures. A June fire burned bushes and olive trees near Klos, while further fires in August forced families to evacuate in the Mallakastër region. Crews also battled difficult fires in mountainous terrain near Gjirokastër and in other parts of the country.
23. Serbia
Serbia experienced serious wildfires during the August heatwave. Firefighters, helicopters and military resources were deployed as blazes spread around the Deliblatska Peščara nature reserve and near Kraljevo. Settlements were threatened as temperatures approached 40°C and strong winds made containment more difficult.
24. Montenegro
Montenegro also saw multiple fires during the Balkan heatwave. Fire crews fought blazes near Cetinje and in coastal areas as high temperatures and dry vegetation created dangerous conditions. Some fires came close enough to populated areas to raise concerns over evacuations and property damage.
25. Germany
Germany’s wildfire threat became particularly serious in August. A fire near Gey in North Rhine-Westphalia forced more than 2,000 residents to evacuate as flames approached within a few hundred metres of the village. Firefighting was made unusually dangerous by unexploded Second World War ammunition in surrounding forest areas, and German military vehicles were used to help crews gain access.
26. United Kingdom
The United Kingdom experienced an unusually active wildfire year after exceptionally dry and hot weather. Fires affected Scotland, England and Wales, including a major incident in the Cairngorms and grass and vegetation fires in central England. By August 12, fire services had responded to 966 wildfires across England and Wales during 2026. A major grass fire in Stourbridge later affected several homes.
27. Netherlands
The Netherlands was not spared from Europe’s summer fires. In early August, a wildfire spread through a nature reserve in the southern part of the country, providing another example of significant fire activity moving into parts of Europe that are less commonly associated with Mediterranean-style wildfire emergencies.
28. Cyprus
Cyprus experienced brush and wildland fires during another extremely hot summer. One major July fire near Kalo Chorio burned about 120 hectares and led to the evacuation of two communities. Authorities said the fire began after National Guard engineers detonated discarded ammunition during 40°C temperatures, prompting the defence minister to order an investigation.
29. Algeria
Algeria became one of the main wildfire hotspots in North Africa during July. Dozens of fires were recorded across several provinces as extreme heat and dry conditions affected the region. On one occasion, the country’s civil protection authorities reported extinguishing 34 out of 56 fires being tracked across multiple areas.
30. Tunisia
Tunisia also experienced a difficult fire season. By July 23, authorities said forest and shrubland fires had burned roughly 4,400 hectares since the beginning of May — around 63% more than during the equivalent period in 2025. International firefighting aircraft were brought in as fires threatened forests, farmland and communities.
31. Morocco
Morocco faced a series of forest fires during the North African heatwave. Fires were reported in northern and central provinces, including Tetouan and Taroudant, while national authorities recorded hundreds of forest-fire incidents during the year. Morocco’s fires were generally smaller than the enormous outbreaks seen in France, Spain or Canada, but they formed part of the same wider pattern of dangerous hot, dry and windy conditions around the Mediterranean and North Africa.
A wildfire year spanning continents
What makes 2026 notable is not simply one enormous fire or one badly affected country. Major fire emergencies have appeared in very different landscapes: Australia’s eucalyptus bush, Patagonia’s forests, Canada’s boreal regions, Himalayan foothills, Southeast Asian forests, Mediterranean woodland and even parts of northern and central Europe.
Europe alone had recorded 568,415 hectares burned and 1,647 fires larger than 30 hectares by August 13, according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and European Forest Fire Information System.
The causes of individual fires vary. Some have been linked to lightning, accidents, deliberate ignition, agricultural burning or infrastructure. What many of the worst outbreaks have shared, however, is an environment in which vegetation was exceptionally easy to burn: prolonged heat, low rainfall, drought and strong winds allowed fires to grow rapidly once they started.
And the 2026 fire season is not over. As of mid-August, active fires were still being fought in North America and Europe, while other regions could face heightened danger later in the year. The final global toll — in land burned, homes destroyed, ecosystems damaged and people displaced — will therefore be considerably clearer only after the year ends.
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