POLL: Are you considering the risk of wildfires when booking your summer holiday?
More than half a million hectares were destroyed by flames in Europe during 2023 alone.
Wildfires plagued several holiday hotspots last year, devouring thousands of hectares of forests across Europe.
Wildfires have already erupted in several places this summer, sparking fear, chaos and devastation among locals and tourists alike.
This week alone, dozens of firefighters were called to quash blazes sweeping across the Greek islands of Chios, Kos and Crete.
The Prime Minister of the Mediterranean country, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, warned this week that Greece is facing a dangerous summer of wildfires due to a prolonged drought and unusually high gusts of wind for the season.
Last summer, wildfires killed 20 people in the north of the country and forced the evacuation of 19,000 others from the island of Rhodes, savaged by the flames.
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Spain was also hugely affected by forest fires in 2023. Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, saw 15,000 hectares burn after a wildfire broke out on August 15 last year.
Within three days, the fire spread through 11 municipalities, and as the blazes kept cutting through the dry terrain tens of thousands of people were forced to flee.
This wildfire in the holiday destination much beloved by British tourists is now acknowledged as the worst being suffered in the Canaries over the past four decades.
Research published by the EU's Science Hub and based on data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) claimed that a total of 504,002 hectares were burnt throughout the European continent in 2023. Among the areas affected were southern Italy, Portugal, southern France and the Balkans.
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During the first four months of 2024, the article said "there have already been almost double the average number of fires for this time of the year, but without a major impact in terms of burnt areas".
The conditions to see wildfires taking hold once again this year are present, as droughts and high temperatures have battered parts of the continent.
Now Express.co.uk is asking its readers whether they are considering the risk of wildfires before booking their summer holiday this year.
