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Massive fires have been raging in central Spain and southwest France, forcing the evacuation of more than 360,000 people. Three people have died and thousands of homes have been destroyed.
Rapid research from the World Weather Attribution initiative found that climate change made the blazes at least twice as likely in France and at least 20 times more likely in Spain. Events of this intensity, the researchers add, are now expected to occur once every 20 years in southwestern France and once every six years in central Spain.
In the UK, hundreds of people were evacuated and a major incident declared after a wildfire spread over more than 80 hectares (200 acres) on the Suffolk coast, just a few miles from the Sizewell B nuclear power station. Firefighters have responded to 393 wildfires across England and Wales in July, making it the busiest month on record and placing significant pressure on crews and resources.
The underlying pattern is consistent across the UK and Europe: back-to-back heatwaves encourage vegetation to grow, then dry it out, producing ideal fuel for fires.
More than 40,000 extra people died on England’s hottest days between 1988 and 2025 compared with what would be expected in normal temperatures, according to new ONS data.
Deaths from high heat are expected to keep climbing as climate change and an ageing population combine, with older people, children and the unwell most at risk.
The strain has been visible across the health system: A&E departments saw their busiest period on record, with almost 2.5 million attendances a month in May, June and July, with record-breaking heat cited as a key factor. Nurses reported collapsing on shift amid what their union called “inhumane and impossible” conditions.
YouGov’s long-term data tracking shows an uptick in the belief that ‘the environment’ is one of the UK’s most important issues, amidst a summer of unprecedented heat, fires and drought. Although this increase does not match high points across the trend line, or the impact of summer heat episodes between 2022-2024.
The importance Britons placed on ‘the environment’ rose +11% across this summer – from 14% on the 4th May (pre-heatwaves) to a peak of 25% on the 17th of August, before dropping slightly again to 23% on the 24th of August.
These shifts have been particularly noticeable amongst Lib Dem supporters (+17%, from 23% to 40% in the same period), Labour supporters (+15%, from 22% to 37%) and women (+14%, from 15% to 29%).
This data follows a piece by YouGov published after the June summer heatwave, which suggested that the heat had not impacted people’s climate opinions or actions, despite 71% believing the heatwave was likely to have been caused by climate change.
While this certainly appeared true at the time – the latest data suggests this piece may have been premature in catching the full effects of the extreme heat on environmental salience this summer (especially when previous weather extremes have led to spikes in issue salience data).
