Wildfires

Perspective re the UK, France, and Europe as a whole

Aug 13, 2026

The same BBC that claims to lack the resources to report on a rape gang inquiry happening in the UK apparently has plenty of resources for reporting on wildfires, even in holiday season.

Here are the most recent articles on the Wildfires section of the BBC News website at the time of writing (12th August, just after the eclipse):

Twenty articles in the last day or so, and most of them from England.

For context, below are some charts from Our World in Data.1

Cumulative area burnt by wildfires by week for the United Kingdom:

So far, 2026 in the UK is above average for cumulative area burnt by wildfires, but it is not nearly as bad as last year, which saw the largest area burnt since at least 2012. In contrast, 2024 was at the other end of the scale.

Across the Channel, the situation appears rather more problematic.

Cumulative area burnt by wildfires by week for France:

But as this recent BBC article acknowledges…

…the French interior ministry has recently announced:

420 arrests of people alleged to have either started the fires deliberately or by accident.

Apparently:

In one case, a 23-year-old man has been accused of deliberately starting 10 fires in the space of five days in the south-eastern Var area last month.

I wonder what is motivating people who are starting fires deliberately.

I should perhaps add that the opening part of the above article parrots the usual BBC line on climate:

After wildfires caused more damage in France this year than at any time since World War Two, many are left asking a single question: why?
A major driver is that climate is changing as a result of the well-documented way humanity is burning fossil fuels. Temperatures are only rising.

“Well-documented”… with no link…

I am reminded of Prof Ian Plimer, Australia’s best known geologist…

Australia's best-known geologist: no-one has ever shown that human emissions of carbon dioxide drive global warming

Some Thinking Allowed

August 3, 2025

Read full story

I wonder how BBC journalists would explain the rise and fall of earth’s temperatures long before humanity started burning fossil fuels. And how much effort the Corporation’s reporters have put into establishing the reliability (or not) of the UK’s temperature measuring network.

As to the wider picture across Europe…

Cumulative area burnt by wildfires by week for Europe:

…it seems that, for now at least, when the last 15 years are compared, 2026 is actually running last in terms of the cumulative area burnt by wildfires.

But I’m not expecting to hear that from the BBC any time soon…