Greece’s 2026 Fire Season Claims 11 Lives, WWF Review Finds

Greece’s 2026 fire season killed 11 people and burned more than 40,000 hectares, a review published on Tuesday by WWF Greece and two independent research partners found.

WWF Greece prepared the annual wildfire review with the Firewatch forest fire observatory. The FLAME fire-weather team at the National Observatory of Athens also took part. It is the third year in a row the three groups have produced it.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System, fires burned about 35,400 hectares (354,000 stremmata). The authors estimate the total tops 40,000 hectares once smaller fires are included.

That figure is below the average for the previous 20 years. Even so, the 2026 fire season ranks as the eighth worst since 2006 for burned area and number of fires.

Read more: Greece Places Attica and 11 Regions on Red Code for Wildfire Risk

Where the 2026 fire season hit hardest

Just 12 large fires, each bigger than 500 hectares, caused about 80 per cent of the mapped burned area. Fire weather stayed close to normal across most of the country. Because of that, the damage also depended on prevention, readiness and the handling of big fires, the authors said.

The biggest blaze of the 2026 fire season swept through West Attica and Porto Germeno, burning 11,339 hectares. About 27 per cent of that land had already burned in the past 20 years.

In Rethymno, Crete, the Krya Vrysi and Preveli fires burned 5,012 hectares, including two Natura 2000 sites. More than half of that area had burned at least once before.

At Trapezitsa near Konitsa, a lightning fire burned for about a month until crews contained it. It badly damaged a mature forest of Bosnian pine. Since too few unburned old trees remain, its recovery is in doubt, the review said.

A fire in the Evros border region crossed into Greece from Bulgaria in early October. In particular, the authors called for closer cooperation between EU members on cross-border fires.

Beyond the 11 deaths, the 2026 fire season injured people and damaged homes, infrastructure and businesses. It also hit six protected areas covering 3,739 hectares, including a national park and two wildlife refuges.

About 5,944 hectares burned again within 20 years, mainly in Rethymno, Karystos, Porto Germeno, Skyros and Paros. Attica alone has lost at least 110,000 hectares to fire over 20 years. A fifth of that burned land has burned twice or more.

Prevention gaps and a new law

On the positive side, crews contained most blazes of the 2026 fire season quickly and made greater use of ground forces. The Fire Service’s arson crimes unit improved its investigations into causes.

However, the authors found serious weaknesses in prevention, coordination and the handling of large fires. Power transmission and distribution networks contributed to some of the most destructive fires, they said. In addition, Greece lacks a transparent system to record the true cost of fires.

Law 5281/2026 includes many WWF Greece proposals, but putting it into practice is now the main task, the authors said. Their priorities include fewer ignitions and stronger protection for twice-burned areas.

The new law now requires a public lessons-learned process after every season. As a result, the authors said the 2026 fire season should be the last one they review in this form.

“Effective handling of most fires is not enough when a small number of incidents still causes most of the losses,” the review said.

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