Spain’s wildfire season has driven firefighting costs to a range of €1.72 billion to €3.28 billion so far this year, according to a Greenpeace report that draws on data from the National Association of Forestry Companies (Asemfo).
Scale of the 2024 blaze
The Interior Ministry recorded 8,189 incidents that together scarred nearly 354,793 hectares of forest and scrubland in 2025. Using the Navarra Forestry Agency’s per‑hectare estimate of €10,000, the total expense would be about €3.55 billion; Asemfo’s higher figure of €19,000 per hectare pushes the number to €6.74 billion. The Greenpeace analysis limits its focus to the average cost of fighting the fires, not the later restoration work.
For 2024, the Ministry for Ecological Transition’s progress report shows that 172,396 hectares have burned – roughly half of last year’s total. Applying the same per‑hectare ranges yields a provisional cost between €1.72 billion and €3.28 billion.
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What the money covers
Only the direct firefighting effort is included in those calculations. Ana Belén Noriega, dean of the Official Association of Technical Forestry Engineers (COITF), told Infobae that restoration “is usually more expensive than the firefighting itself.” The European Parliament recently approved an emergency aid package of €120.55 million to help Spain cope with drought, heatwaves and forest fires.
Asemfo’s own estimates indicate that roughly €1.2 billion to €1.3 billion is earmarked for fire‑related activities each year, with about €400 million directed toward immediate suppression. The remaining €800 million or so goes to prevention measures, according to its president, Miguel Ángel Duralde.
“The losses are tremendous,” Duralde said, adding that fires are often extinguished in winter. He argues that each euro spent on prevention could save about €100 in firefighting costs. His view reflects a broader sentiment that more investment in forest management – potentially €3 billion annually – would be more effective than buying additional aircraft.
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In practice, the balance between suppression and prevention is shaped by the data supplied by regional administrations to the Ministry for Ecological Transition, meaning the figures remain estimates rather than exact amounts.
Comparing this season to previous years, the pattern of high firefighting spend coupled with limited prevention funding mirrors past cycles in Mediterranean nations, where budget constraints often push resources toward immediate response rather than long‑term risk reduction.