ForestFire Statistics for France, Italy, Portugal and Spain during the Fire Season2003
Compiledand published by the GFMC, 29 August 2003
The following interim update of forestfire statistics of the Mediterranean fire season 2003 has been compiled by theGFMC:
France
According to the Promethée statisticaldatabase the forest area burned in France during this summer (up to 27 August2003) is 16,711 ha.
Italy
The official statistics of Italy(provided by the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Corpo Forestale delloStato) for the fire season 2003 (up to 13 August 2003) reveal the occurrence ofa total of 7,916 wildfires which affected 24,328 ha of forest land and 34,574 haof non-forest land, totalling 58,902 ha, with an average area burned by fireevent of 7.4 ha.
Portugal
According to the Cartography Centre,Tropical Research Institute, Portugal, the total area burned in Portugal thissummer (up until 18 August 2003) is 417,000 ha. The largest contiguous burnedpatch, resulting from the coalescence of various independent large fires isslightly bigger than 100,000 ha.
Spain
The recent statistical data from Spain(official release from the Ministry for Environment) show a total area affectedby wildfires (up to 17 August 2003) of 99,863 ha.