What changed
2026-07-27 06:49 UTC → 2026-07-29 09:01 UTC ·
added
removed
Escalating Sixth-Generation Wildfires in Mediterranean
Since The sixth‑generation wildfire phenomenon first noted after the late‑July July 2026 blaze that engulfed on Algeria’s coast, the sixth‑generation wildfire phenomenon has spread throughout coast continues to expand across the Mediterranean basin. Researchers now report that Fires in Spain, France and Portugal are experiencing a surge of fires that release now regularly emit more than 10 MW per metre—some exceeding metre, with some fronts reaching 60 MW/m—and generate their own wind, rendering conventional MW/m and generating self‑sustaining wind that defeats aerial tactics ineffective. suppression. Researchers such as Domingos Xavier Viegas of the University (University of Coimbra warned Coimbra) warn that these events are becoming more frequent as climate change intensifies fire behaviour, is making these extreme megafires more frequent, and he have re‑classified Portugal’s 2017 catastrophic fires catastrophe as sixth‑generation. The self‑generated wind forces fire‑fighters to attack only a sixth‑generation event. Recent weeks have seen the scale of the threat surge. Combined fires in France and Spain have burned over 115,000 ha, forced the evacuation of more than 320,000 residents and caused 137 deaths in 2024. Spain’s 2026 fire season is projected to become its worst on record, with an estimated 172,000 ha destroyed and 180,000 people directly affected. Authorities are concentrating on protecting flanks and tail tails of the fronts, often fire fronts with bulldozers or by creating bulldozers, discontinuity zones, while zones and large‑scale evacuations continue across affected towns. evacuations. In response, Spain’s Ecofire, a Ecofire—an organic, water‑based organic fluid that solidifies into an insulating layer at 100 °C, is °C—is being promoted as a 30–40‑fold 30‑to‑40‑fold improvement over water, reducing consumption and allowing safe safer, equipment‑compatible application to vegetation, animals and people. The product can be deployed with existing equipment and is presented as an ecological countermeasure to the escalating fire threat across the region.