The burned area this year is about four times smaller than in the same period in 2025, totaling 60,572 hectares to date, but the number of forest fires rose 13%, surpassing 6,500, according to official data.
According to the Integrated Fire Management System for Rural Fires (SGIFR) portal, managed by the Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management (AGIF), between January 1 and today 6,572 fires were started, consuming 60,572 hectares (ha) of scrub and forest, the fifth-worst year for burned area of the decade, after 2017, 2025, 2016 and 2022.
The data also show that 2026 is the sixth-worst year for fires, highlighting that fire occurrences had been decreasing since 2022, but this year that trend is reversing as the number of fires records the highest in the last four years.
In the same period last year, the burned area totaled 245,760 ha and the fires reached 5,824.
The SGIFR portal also indicates that the regions of the country with the most burned area this year are the North (34,929 ha), followed by the Center (20,452 ha) and Alentejo (3,335 ha), while the largest number of fires also started in the North (3,422), Center (1,177) and Lisbon and Tagus Valley (1,006).
According to the data, the majority of fires investigated this year were primarily caused by the use of fire, accidental ignition and arson.
The SGIFR also indicates that more than half of the fires and burned area occurred on days of moderate and low fire risk.
