Europe has always had wildfires, but they are becoming increasingly extreme as the climate crisis tightens its grip. Firefighters in France and Spain have this week been trying to tame blazes more ferocious and more erratic than anything they’ve tackled before. “These are fires that burn with the intensity of several atomic bombs.” “What is uncommon is the current number of destructive wildfires: fires that spread rapidly, overwhelm fire brigades and force communities to evacuate,” said Guillermo Rein, professor of fire science at Imperial College London. But extreme weather, made worse by climate change, has been a key driver of Europe’s fires, scientists say.