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Wildfire smoke is crossing borders, climate change intensifies Europe's flames

2026-07-25 07:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Wildfire smoke is crossing borders, climate change intensifies Europe's

"Climate change, bushfires and air pollution are a vicious cycle," says Clean Air Fund executive director Jane Burston - and toxic particles can travel thousands of kilometres.

A national emergency declared in Spain, thousands forced to flee in France and thousands of hectares burned in Italy, fires are burning more frequently and more intensely as the climate changes.

And their danger doesn't end when the flames are out. Smoke carries black carbon, tiny particles of partially burned material that can travel hundreds, even thousands, of kilometers from the fire itself.

“Pollution can travel quite long distances,” Jane Burston, executive director of the Clean Air Fund, tells Euronews Earth. Some particles are small enough to pass through the lungs into the bloodstream, she says, causing asthma in the short term and, over the years, lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and even dementia.

Burston cited Canada's record-breaking wildfire season in 2023 as a clear example, with an estimated 82,000 people dying from the resulting toxins and pollution across Canada, the US and Europe, long after the fires themselves had stopped burning.

Forest fire smoke is an underestimated risk

Recent research supports her concerns. A study in The Lancet Planetary Health, covering 32 European countries, found that mortality linked to forest fire smoke may be underestimated by 93 percent, because fine particles associated with fire appear to be more harmful than pollution from other sources.

Separately, US researchers reported that global emissions of health-damaging gases from forest fires could be about 21 percent higher than previous estimates.

Burston says drought combined with heatwaves, both intensified by climate change, are creating the conditions for fires to spread rapidly. "We will expect a longer and more intense fire season every year," she tells Euronews Earth. Breaking the 'vicious cycle' of climate change, fires and air pollution

Burston describes air pollution, climate change and fires as a self-reinforcing loop: pollutants released along with greenhouse gases when humans burn fossil fuels raise temperatures, fueling more fires, which in turn produce more pollution.

"We really need to address other causes of air pollution, as well as forest fires," she says, adding that reducing pollution also saves money for health systems and increases productivity.

She calls for stronger early warning systems, noting that some regions in Latin America already use air quality monitors to detect fires before they are visually noticeable.

Governments, she says, should combine forecasting with clear guidance on when people should stay indoors, use air purifiers or evacuate./ CNA





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