The results of the 2025 fire season were presented during yesterday’s meeting of the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Yiannis Kefalogiannis.
Key finding: while the European Union recorded a historical record of burned areas (over 10 million hectares, almost three times the 2006–2024 average), Greece remained below its own historical average, confirming a stable and restrained picture at the national level.
According to the data presented, the total burned areas in the country in 2025 are estimated at approximately 477,000 acres, compared to a historical average of 503,000 acres for the period 2006–2024, i.e. a decrease of approximately 5%.
This result is recorded in a year that was extremely difficult for the whole of Europe, with a strong shift in fire risk towards countries in Central and Northern Europe.
According to the data in 2025, it became clear that the climate crisis is no longer limited to the Mediterranean. Fires of great intensity have also occurred in countries in Central and Northern Europe, where the phenomenon was historically rare. In Germany, the burned areas increased by approximately 700% compared to the average of the previous twenty years, in Austria by 380%, in Denmark by 250%, in Slovakia by over 1,200%, while in Finland the increase approached 120%.
These quantitative data confirm that the fire risk is now pan-European in nature, affecting all climatic and geographical zones of the Union.
The operational report for Greece shows:
8 out of 10 fires are extinguished before they exceed 10 acres.
97% are limited to less than 10 acres.
84% are extinguished within 2 hours and 18 minutes.
The average time to first attack is 14.8 minutes.
The First Attack Success Rate is 96.6%
As has become clear, the pressure due to the effects of the climate crisis is evident, with six days with a Hazard Index of 5 recorded in 2025, compared to an average of 1.1 in the period 2006–2024. Despite this, the national management system remained effective. Indicatively, 112 was activated in only 5.5% of incidents, confirming targeted use of the system exclusively where there was a real risk to citizens or settlements.
In large fires (over 10,000 hectares), 9 events were recorded (1 in June, 8 in July–August), with a total burned area of approximately 249,000 hectares and an average area per fire of approximately 27,700 hectares, clearly lower than the historical average (~64,000 hectares).
At the local administration level, ten Municipalities account for approximately 22% of the total number of fires in the country, mainly in the Regions of Thessaly, Western Greece and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The dominant type of fire in these Municipalities is agricultural or grassland, with characteristics of small area but high frequency of recurrence.
The seasonal distribution peaks in the months of June–August, when high temperatures, low humidity and increased agricultural activity coexist. The areas with high frequency are identified with agricultural and arable lands, where harvesting activities, field cleaning and burning of crop residues are observed.
Finally, it was underlined that the quality of the response and the consistency of the data will be further enhanced with tools that are under development, while issues such as citizen education, targeted field control and coordination with Local Government remain priorities, especially in view of the winter season.
