Nepal, Aug. 20 -- Wildfires have scorched nearly 895,000 hectares across the European Union (EU) so far this year, more than four times the area recorded in the same period of 2024, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) said Tuesday.

The burnt area has more than doubled compared with last week's tally of 439,568 hectares, underscoring the rapid spread of wildfires in recent days.

According to the JRC's latest weekly update, this year's figure far exceeds the 19-year average of 244,000 hectares typically seen by mid-August.

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A total of 1,736 major blazes, defined as fires larger than 30 hectares, have been detected in the EU so far, compared...