Earlier today, Reuters reported that “more intense heatwaves” have contributed to the wildfires in Albania.  We should question their claim.

Firstly, because, as H. Sterling Burnett points out, their claim is debunked by historical data and research.  And secondly, the IPCC states that there is low confidence in any long-term increases in meteorological drought or fire weather at the global scale.

Burnett also notes that fires are caused deliberately, a factor which Reuters ignores completely.  Recent reports have stated that 12 or 18 people, depending on reports, have been arrested in Albania in the last few days and charged with suspected intentional or negligent arson.

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Today, on 29 July, Reuters reported:

Firefighters battled on Monday to put out wildfires in three separate provinces of Turkey, in Greece and near a tourist resort in Albania, stoked by strong winds after days of searing heat across the Mediterranean region.

Hot and dry summers are common in the Mediterranean region, but more intense heatwaves have contributed to destructive wildfires in recent years amid fast-rising temperatures across the globe.

Firefighters battle blazes in Turkey, Greece and Albania, Reuters, Published 28 July and updated 29 July 2025

Also today, according to the Insider Paper, Agence France-Presse (“AFP”) reported:

Albanian authorities have arrested 18 people on charges of starting wildfires across the country, police told AFP on Tuesday.

Since mid-June, more than 12,000 hectares, including forests and olive groves, have been damaged by fires in the Balkan country, according to environmental groups.

Several dozen fires have broken out in recent days, some not far from the tourist coast.

“Arson is not just a crime — it is also a threat to life, nature, and the future,” the Albanian interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Those convicted of setting a fire intentionally face up to five years in prison, “but if it (the fire) causes considerable material damage or has serious consequences for people’s lives and health, the penal code provides for 10 to 15 years in prison,” the ministry said.

A few active fires were burning in Albania on Tuesday, with a forecasted drop in temperatures expected to aid in containment efforts.

Albania detains 18 on charges of starting fires, Insider Paper, 29 July 2025

Insider Paper did not provide a source link, and we were unable to find the original AFP report.  But two days before, on 27 July, RKS reported:

Albanian State Police have arrested or are prosecuting 12 individuals suspected of deliberate arson in several counties across the country. The arrests were made over the past 72 hours as part of an intensified effort to prevent fires and identify the perpetrators.

Albania: 12 People Arrested for Deliberate Arson, RKS, 27 July 2025

Without an ‘About’ page, it is difficult to establish what sort of media outlet RKS is, but it appears to be a small outlet, possibly an independent media website, reporting on the Balkans.  RKS also does not provide source links for its report, so it’s difficult to verify the accuracy of its report. 

Gazeta Express also reported on the arrest of 12 people for arson in recent days and although it does not provide links to sources, it may provide some validation as its background is traceable.

Gazeta Express, according to Wikipedia, is a news portal owned by MediaWorks in the Republic of Kosovo. It was founded in 2005 by a group of senior editors and journalists with financing from IPKO, Kosovo’s leading private telecommunications company.  According to its Twitter profile, it is the most prominent media in Kosovo and the most popular media in the Balkans by the number of visits to its website.

The following is what Gazeta Express had to say when introducing a statement from the police:

The State Police has intensified investigative and operational actions to prevent arson … During the last 72 hours, as a result of coordinated work and information collected operationally, 12 citizens have been arrested and criminally prosecuted, suspected of intentional or negligent arson.

Albania: 12 people in custody for arson, Gazeta Express, 27 July 2025

While we wait for confirmation about how many people have been arrested in Albania for arson, we also have the facts about whether global warming is causing wildfires to consider.  The following is an article published by Climate Realism on 27 July 2025.

Check Your Facts, Reuters, Mediterranean Wildfires Aren’t Unusual Historically, No Reason to Blame Climate Change

By H. Sterling Burnett, as published by Climate Realism

A recent story posted by Reuters blames recent wildfire numbers and severity that have erupted across Mediterranean Europe on climate change. Data and history debunk such claims. Satellite data from Europe and the United States show wildfire is in decline globally, including across Europe, and research and reports show wildfires have been common across the arid Mediterranean region throughout history.

In the Reuters story, ‘How climate change fuels wildfires in Europe’, writer Kate Abnett writes, “[w]ildfires have burnt 227,000 hectares of land since the beginning of the year – more than double the average for this time of year over the past two decades,” noting that while this year’s acreage lost to wildfires is far above the recent average (consistent records have only been kept since 2002), it is far below the recent record.

Abnett uncritically blames climate change for causing the Southern Europe’s fires, writing:

Scientists say the Mediterranean region’s hotter, drier summers put it at high risk of wildfires. …

Climate change exacerbates this risk, by creating hotter and drier background conditions. In the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, that has contributed to the fire season starting earlier in recent years, breaking records for the intensity of fires, and burning more land.

Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning coal, oil and gas, have heated the planet by about 1.3 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. Europe has warmed at twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

How climate change fuels wildfires in Europe, Reuters, 15 July 2025

Abnett’s narrative may be compelling, but it is compelling fiction, unmoored from a historical understanding of fire in the region, and refuted by hard data and research.

As a matter of geography, the climate of the Mediterranean region is naturally arid, prone to drought, extreme heat, and yes, associated wildfires. Abnett in particular discusses wildfires in parts of France (documented, for example, HERE and HERE), Greece (documented, for example, HERE and HERE), Spain (documented, for example, HERE and HERE), and even Syria (documented, for example, HERE and HERE). Syria is not normally considered part of Europe but I guess Abnett threw it into the mix because there are fires burning there and it is located to the Mediterranean Sea. The problem is research and historical reports from each of the countries and regions mentioned by Abnett show that wildfires, often set intentionally by people during wars, have been common there.

Fire helped shape the ecology of the entire region. Some past fires have been huge. For instance, more than 112 years of global warming ago, when global average temperatures were cooler and humans weren’t contributing significantly to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, the great Thessaloniki fire burned for 13 days, left more than 70,000 people homeless, and destroyed two-thirds of Greece’s second-largest city.

Factions have used fire as a tool to fight wars throughout history. In fact, many of the fires in Syria today have been set during its ongoing political strife or civil war. In the waning days of the Assad regime, it became common for militias fighting the government to set fires, which drained resources from the regime. Nowhere in Abnett’s story does she discuss the fact that many fires now burning and that have scorched the region in recent years have been the result of human carelessness, and sometimes intentionally set for political reasons or purely perverse ends.

That’s the history and context Abnett ignores in her rush to climate judgment.

Additionally, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) undermines Abnett’s linking long-term climate change and the increase in wildfires. The IPCC says in Chapter 12 of its Sixth Assessment Report that there has been no observable change in the wildfire regime. “There is low confidence in any long-term increases in meteorological drought or fire weather at the global scale,” states the IPCC. The organisation goes on to say that, based on trends and models forecasts, it does not expect any observable change in wildfire behaviour, numbers, intensity, or acreage lost to arise by 2050 or even by 2100.

On this point, the IPCC would seem to be on solid ground since satellite data sets from NASA and the European Space Agency both show a decline in wildfires in recent decades.

In short, since wildfires are declining, it is impossible for climate change to be making wildfires more frequent or severe.

To the extent that people perceive wildfire trends as worsening, it is likely due to the fact that with population and associated housing and infrastructure growth and expansion into regions historically prone to wildfires, more people are being affected by wildfires when they occur, even when they aren’t as widespread or severe. In addition, the 24-seven global news cycle, a factor that never existed in human history before the last 50 years, makes people aware of even distant wildfires when they occur, making fires appear more frequent.

In the end, rather than focusing on the real factors behind today’s wildfires, Reuters chose to continue the drumbeat that climate change is behind everything bad that happens. This is especially unfortunate with regard to discussions of how to reduce wildfires, since the story ignores real-world means of preventing and/or reducing the extent and damage from wildfires when they occur, such as increased active forest management, improved access for firefighting purposes, and hardening infrastructure. Instead, the story implies falsely that if only humans stopped burning oil, natural gas, and coal, wildfires would be relegated to the history books.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Wildfires are natural. They have been, remain, and will continue to be a fact of life for the foreseeable future, regardless of fossil fuel use. But the judicious use of fossil fuels [hydrocarbon fuels], can help fight fires, by powering equipment, pumps and timber removal machinery, for example, and by providing the on-demand electric power and plastics which house electronics used to discover, map, track and to pinpoint suppression efforts. Fossil fuels also allow society to map potential fuel load build-ups and favourable meteorological conditions rapidly, to anticipate and possibly prevent fires before they occur. That’s what Abnett would have the world give up to prevent a modest rise in future temperatures.

About the Author

H. Sterling Burnett, PhD, is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Centre on Climate and Environmental Policy and the managing editor of Environment & Climate News.  He is also the editor of Heartland’s Climate Change Weekly email and the host of the Environment & Climate News Podcast.

Featured image: Emergency crews near Bulqiza in Albania.  Source: Firefighters tackle blazes as wildfires break out in Greece, Turkey and Albania, Sky News, 27 July 2025

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