List of wildfires

This is a list of notable wildfires.

Africa

• 2017 Knysna fires, South Africa
• 2021 Algeria wildfires
• 2021 Table Mountain fire, South Africa
• 2022 Moroccan wildfires
• 2024 Western Cape wildfires, South Africa
• 2025 Table Mountain fire, South Africa

Asia

China

• 1987 – The Black Dragon Fire burnt a total of of forest along the Amur River, with destroyed on the Chinese side alone and spread to the Soviet side.

• 1996 – Pat Sin Leng wildfire, Tai Po; 5 hikers killed (3 pupils and 2 teachers) on 10 February.

India

• 2016 Uttarakhand forest fires
• 2019 Bandipur forest fires
• 2020 Uttarakhand forest fires
• 2020–21 Dzüko Valley wildfires
• 2021 Simlipal forest fires

Indonesia

• 1997 Indonesian forest fires

Israel

• 1989 Mount Carmel forest fire
• 1995 Jerusalem forest fire
• 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire – Started on 2 December 2010 and burned of forest, killing 44 people, most of them Israel Prison Service officer cadets, when a bus evacuating them was trapped in flames.
• November 2016 Israel wildfires
• 2021 Israel wildfires
• 2025 Israel–West Bank fires

Japan

• Ōfunato wildfire

Kazakhstan

• 2022 Kazakhstan wildfires
• 2023 Kazakhstan wildfires – 14 people died in a series of forest fires caused by lightning in the northeast of the country.

Malaysia

• 2005 Malaysian haze

Mongolia

• 2022 Mongolian wildfires

Pakistan

• 2022 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wildfires

South East Asia

• 1997 Southeast Asian haze
• 2006 Southeast Asian haze
• 2009 Southeast Asian haze
• 2010 Southeast Asian haze
• 2013 Southeast Asian haze
• 2015 Southeast Asian haze
• 2016 Southeast Asian haze
• 2017 Southeast Asian haze
• 2019 Southeast Asian haze

South Korea

• April 2000, Gangwon-do Gangneung wildfire
• March 2013, Gyeongsangbukdo Pohang wildfire.
• 2025 South Korea wildfires

Syria

• 2020 – Fires in Al-Suwayda Governorate in May, followed by Al-Hasakah Governorate in the summer, then in Latakia and Hama Governorates in September, next in Latakia again, Homs, and Tartus Governorates in October.

Vietnam

• 2019 Vietnam forest fires

Arctic

According to the WTO in June 2019 arctic wildfires emitted of CO₂. This was more than between 2010 and 2018 combined. Most carbon release was from Alaska and Siberia, but also included other arctic areas e.g., in Canada. In Siberia the temperature was about higher in June 2019 than the average. In Anchorage, Alaska, on 4 July 2019, the temperature was , setting a new all-time record high temperature for the town.

Europe

Croatia

• 2007 Croatian coast fires, burning .

France

• The 1949 Landes Forest Fire burned of forest land and killed 82 people.
• 2021 France wildfires
• 2025 wildfire in southern France burns 11,000 hectares.

Germany

• In the fire on the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony in August 1975, of heathland burned, killing 5 firefighters.
• In May/June 1992 near Weißwasser (Saxony) of forest burned. One firefighter was killed in an accident.

Greece

• 1985 forest fires burnt 105,000 hectares with the worst affected being around Kavala in eastern Macedonia and Thasos Island in the north Aegean.
• 2000 forest fires were the worst forest fires to date and included the island of Samos in east Aegean and at Mount Mainalon and eastern Corinthia in the Peloponnese. The burnt area was 167,000 hectares which is the second highest in recent history (after the 2007 fires).
• 2007 Greek forest fires were by far the worst fires in recent Greek history. Over 270,000 hectares were burnt mostly in the Peloponnese region (especially in Elis region) and southern Evia as well as Mount Parnitha near Athens.
• 2009 Greek forest fires saw 21,000 hectares burnt around Mount Penteli near Athens.
• 2018 Greek wildfires were the deadliest in recent history with over 100 deaths in and around the village of Mati near Athens.
• 2021 Greek wildfires were the worst fires since 2007 with over 125,000 hectares burnt mostly in northern Evia, the Elis region of Peloponnese and around Tatoi near Athens.
• 2023 Greek wildfires
• 2024 Greek wildfires

Italy

• 2021 Italy wildfires

Mediterranean

• 2009 Mediterranean wildfires in France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey in July.
• 2022 European and Mediterranean wildfires

Poland

• 1992:
• 10 August – a fire on the Noteć Forest burned of forest.
• 26 August – Kuźnia Raciborska fire: on a fire in and around Kuźnia Raciborska destroyed of forest and killed two firefighters.
• 2020: A fire in the Biebrza National Park burned 6,000 ha of forest.

Portugal

• August 2003 Wildfires, destroying 10% of Portuguese forests and killing 18 people.
• 2016 Portugal wildfires
• June 2017 Portugal wildfires and October 2017 Portugal wildfires, catastrophic series of fires that trapped and killed more than 100 people.
• 2018 - wildfires near the city of Portimao.
• 2024 Portugal wildfires

Russia

• July and August 1915 Siberian wildfires fires burned for 50 days and burned about 14 million ha.
• 1921 Mari wildfires
• August 1935 – Kursha-2 settlement was burned out with 1,200 victims.
• 2003 Russian wildfires – more than , primarily Boreal forest, were burned in southern Siberia from 14 March to 8 August. Direct carbon emissions were around 400-640 TgC ().
• 2010 Russian wildfires – Drought and the hottest summer since records began in 1890 caused many devastating forest fires in European Russia.
• 2015 Russian wildfires – A series of wildfires in southern Siberia killed 26 people and left thousands homeless.
• 2018 Russian wildfires
• 2019 Russian wildfires – were burning as of 2 August according to Russia's Federal Forestry Agency ( according to Greenpeace).
• 2020 Russian wildfires
• 2021 Russian wildfires
• 2022 Siberian wildfires
• 2024 Russian wildfires

Spain

• 17 July 2005 – Guadalajara province – a forest fire caused by an improperly extinguished barbecue burned and killed 11 firefighters. The environmental councilor of Castilla-La Mancha, Rosario Arévalo, resigned from her position as a result.
• 2016 Benidorm forest fire – burnt more than and destroyed at least 20 homes.
• June 2019 – burning near Tarragona.
• 2019 Canary Islands wildfires
• 2023 Tenerife wildfire

Turkey

• 2009 Mediterranean wildfires
• 2020 Turkish wildfires
• 2021 Turkish wildfires

Sweden

• 2014 Västmanland wildfire – a forest fire with 1 verified death.
• 2018 Sweden wildfires

Ukraine

• Wildfire near Kreminna, 1996 – around 70 km² (7,000 ha)
• Wildfire in Kherson Oblast (), 2007 – more than 87.5 km² (87,500 ha)
• 2020 Chernobyl Exclusion Zone wildfires – 470 km² (47,000 ha)

United Kingdom

• May 2011 – Swinley Forest fire, Berkshire, England. Fire appliances from 12 counties attended over several days due to the large area of the fire. The fire service incident log for the call was over 500 pages long.
• 2018 United Kingdom wildfires
• 2019 United Kingdom wildfires
• Cannich wildfire

North America

Canada and the United States

From 2007 to 2017, wildfires burned an average of per year in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.

† Indicates a currently burning fire

• August 2016 Western United States Wildfires - California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming were affected with evacuations taking place in Oregon, Nevada and Wyoming.

Greenland

Some wildfires occurred in Greenland in August 2017.

There was a large wildfire between Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq from July to August 2019. It was put out by members of Beredskabsstyrelsen, who were flown in.

Mexico

• 2021 Nuevo León wildfires

Oceania

Australia

• Black Thursday bushfires of 1851 (Victoria) with 5 million hectares burnt. This record was broken in the 2019/2020 Black Summer.
• Black Friday bushfires of 1939 (Victoria) with 2 million hectares burnt.
• Black Sunday bushfires of 1955 (South Australia)
• 1961 Western Australian bushfires with 1,800,000 hectares burnt.
• Black Tuesday bushfires of 1967 (Tasmania) with 260,000 hectares burnt.
• 1974-75 Australian bushfire season (Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia)
• Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983 (Victoria and South Australia) with 520,000 hectares burnt.
• 1994 Eastern seaboard fires (New South Wales) with 800,000 hectares burnt.
• Black Christmas bushfires 2001–2002 (New South Wales) with 750,000 hectares burnt.
• Canberra bushfires of 2003
• Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 (Victoria) with 400,000 hectares burnt and the highest death toll of over 170 deaths.
• 2019–20 Australian bushfire season – "Black summer" – the worst bushfire season in modern Australian history. Nationwide burned (approximately) a total of 18,636,079 hectares (46,050,750 acres).
• 2023–24 Australian bushfire season with 96,081,928 hectares burnt.

New Zealand

• Raetihi forest fire (ManawatÅ«)
• 2017 Port Hills fires (Canterbury)
• 2019 Nelson fires
• 2024 Port Hills fire (Canterbury)

South America

Argentina

• 2008 Delta del Paraná wildfires
• 2020 Delta del Paraná wildfires
• 2020 Córdoba wildfires
• 2021 Argentine Patagonia wildfires
• 2022 Corrientes wildfires

Bolivia

• 2010 Bolivia forest fires

Brazil

• 2019 Brazil wildfires
• 2020 Brazil rainforest wildfires
• 2024 Brazil wildfires at São Paulo

Colombia

• 2024 Colombia wildfires

Chile

• 2011–2012 Torres del Paine fire
• 2012 Araucanía wildfires
• 2014 Valparaíso wildfire
• 2017 Chile wildfires
• 2021 Chilean Patagonia wildfire
• 2022 Tierra del Fuego wildfire
• 2023 Chile wildfires
• 2024 Chile wildfires

Ecuador

• 1985 Isabela Island forest fire, Galápagos Islands, lost in March.

Venezuela

• 2020 Cagua fire

See also

• List of fires (all types)
• List of largest fires of the 21st century
• List of town and city fires
• Wildfires in 2023

References