Wildfires in Europe: All the key questions answered

With wildfires being reported across Europe, you might have some questions you’d like answering especially if you’re due to jet off to one of the locations currently suffering soon.

Whether you’re wondering if you should cancel your holiday or if your travel insurance will cover your trip, look no further.

Should you cancel your trip to Greece following the outbreak of wildfires? (Image: Alamy/PA)

What is a wildfire?

A wildfire is a fire that starts in woodland areas, usually with lots of trees or bushes around like in a forest.

Wildfires are not controlled and so can spread quickly to other parts of the area they first occur.

Should you cancel your holiday to Greece?

At the moment, although fires are devastating parts of Greece, the Foreign Office has not advised Britons to avoid non-essential travel to the entire island.

However, one of the UK’s leading climate scientists, Sir David King, said climate change is set to fuel more severe blazes in the future and tourists planning trips to the Mediterranean should see the Greek wildfires as a “big, big warning”.

Labour has suggested the Government should “rethink” the advice it is providing for people considering travelling to the Greek island of Rhodes amid concerns cancellations might not be covered by insurers.

Labour leader in the Lords Baroness Smith of Basildon said the “lack of advisory” from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is “not helpful”.

The FCDO has not formally advised people not to travel to the island and instead is advising those planning to travel to any areas affected by wildfires to check with their travel operator.

You can keep up to date with the Greece foreign travel advice via the UK government website.

If you’re not sure what your travel insurance covers, you should check it or contact the company (Image: Alamy/PA)

What should you do if you're due to go on holiday soon?

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, told the PA news agency: “If you’re not due to travel in the next week or two, don’t do anything.”

He added: “I know lots of people will be stressed and worried and they have dependent costs related to whether that holiday goes ahead or not.

“At the moment the tour operators are, correctly, going to be prioritising the people travelling in the next couple of days.”

However, this could change in the near future.

“I think the tour operators will start getting their act together over the next couple of days and their emergency systems will kick into place,” Boland said.

“I would hope by the end of the week, it will become easier to get through to the tour operators.”

Will your travel insurance cover a wildfire?

If you’re not sure what your travel insurance covers, you should check it or contact the company.

Rory Bowland said: “There will be some cover, but it won’t be great.

“It’s not going to cover most people and even those people it does cover, it isn’t going to cover all of their expenses.”

As a rule, insurance won’t make allowances for ‘disinclination to travel’.

We have sent a Rapid Deployment Team to Rhodes.

The team is supporting British nationals at the airport by:

- assisting with emergency travel documents
- liaising with travel operators & Greek authorities

If you are a British national affected by the fires in Rhodes:

- follow… pic.twitter.com/MdsF0eBRNo

— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 23, 2023

Boland said: “You not wanting to go – despite that obviously being an incredibly sensible decision, to not travel into the centre of a natural disaster – is unlikely to be covered by travel insurance.”

“If that were to be issued, that would mean the majority of tour operators would cancel holidays for the period of the warning,” Boland said.

He added: “They would be bound to offer you a refund or rebooking, and it would also help with travel insurance as well.

“It’s important to say it wouldn’t change situation with most airlines, as certain airlines don’t follow FCDO advice.”

Rory Boland remains optimistic that Greece will recover in time.

“The Rhodes economy and the Greek economy are so highly dependent, not just on tourism, but seasonal tourism.

“Once these wildfires are under control, there will be, of course, a huge effort to rebuild and to reopen things as quickly as possible. They will want tourists to come back and to get the economy back up and working again.”

Wildfires in Greece have meant thousands of Brits have been evacuated and sent back to the UK (Image: Sarah George/PA)

Spain updates travel advice 

Spain has updated its travel advice which includes what to do in a forest fire.

You can find the travel advice via the UK government website and read more in our explainer here.

Information on what to do if a forest fire occurs can be found via the Civil Protection website which is only available to access in Spanish.

However, the UK government website says you should report any fire you see in Spain immediately by ringing the emergency services on 112.

When wildfires start, the situation can quickly change so it’s important you stay up to date with travel advice.

To avoid starting a forest fire, you should make sure you properly extinguish cigarette ends and make sure barbecues are not lit.

Empty bottles should also not be left behind and if you’re planning on having a barbecue, make sure you know the rules against lighting one in woodland areas to avoid being heavily fined.