OREANDA-NEWS  The area of the European Union territories that has grown rapidly since the beginning of July, burned out due to wildfires, has exceeded half a million hectares, according to data from the European climate monitoring service Copernicus.

According to the information provided, by this week, the area of burnt-out territories has already exceeded 554 thousand hectares since the beginning of the year. By the beginning of July, the indicators were at the level of about 127 thousand hectares.

Europe is experiencing one of the hottest periods in recent years, with Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Greece suffering the most severe damage.