Modernizing Our Strategy for Addressing the Growing Wildfire Threat

Europe witnessed its worst wildfire season in 2025, as the threat of wildfires rises due to climate change. The Commission has introduced a new strategy for wildfire risk management that focuses on prevention, preparation, response, and recovery. This strategy aims to boost Europe’s resilience against wildfires, safeguarding people and the environment.

Restoring Europe’s ecosystems is crucial as healthy ecosystems can mitigate the effects of extreme events. Emphasizing prevention, the Commission is:

• Offering guidance on climate adaptation for Natura 2000 sites and promoting resilient landscape planning.
• Advising EU countries on emergency management for Natura 2000 areas.
• Encouraging the integration of wildfire prevention into spatial planning.

For better preparation, the Commission plans to:

• Support EU countries with updated risk assessment guidelines.
• Engage citizens in wildfire preparedness, aligning with the preparedness union strategy.
• Pre-position firefighters in high-risk areas and encourage the exchange of firefighting experts.
• Enhance the European Forest Fire Information System for improved early warning and monitoring.
• Advance European risk modeling with a focus on AI-assisted wildfire models.

Better planning will improve wildfire responses. To aid response efforts, the rescEU firefighting fleet will be expanded with 12 new planes and five helicopters.

For recovery, the Commission aims to collect data on the long-term health risks faced by firefighters, share best practices for post-fire recovery, and support restoration towards more climate-resilient ecosystems.

The Commission will collaborate with EU countries, regions, the civil protection community, land managers, and stakeholders to implement these measures, with regular progress reviews reported to EU institutions.