England's wildfire count through August is second only to 2022

Fire services in England attended 1,354 wildfires from January to August 2026, provisional figures show. That is 2.5 times the average for the same months in 2011–2025, and nine in ten came in July and August.¹

Noodle News data desk · reading time ~2 min

1,354

wildfires attended in England, January to August 2026 (provisional)

2.5×

the average for January to August across 2011–2025, which was 532

1,218

of them in July and August alone, 90% of the 2026 total

What the data shows

Only 2022 has been worse so far

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published provisional wildfire statistics for England on 8 October. They count outdoor fires that burned more than 1,000 square metres and were attended by a fire and rescue service. The figures cover records received up to 4 October.¹

The release comes after the Met Office provisionally named summer 2026 the hottest on record for the UK,² as the desk reported in an earlier piece. Against January to August in other years, 2026 is second. Only 2022, with 1,538, was higher. Then come 2018 (1,085) and 2025 (957).¹ The 2026 figure is provisional, and the ministry says it probably undercounts July and August.¹

Exhibit 01

Wildfires, January to August, by year

Source: MHCLG Fire and Rescue Data Platform, provisional wildfire statistics for England (Table A82 data), January to August of each year 2011–2026. Wildfires are outdoor fires over 1,000 square metres. 2010 is omitted because its data begin in April.¹

When the fires came

Almost all of it fell in two months

Wildfires in England cluster in summer. In 2026 there were 624 in July and 594 in August, with 25 in January to March combined, and between 31 and 47 in each of April, May and June.¹ The pattern is closest to 2022, when July had 609 and August 729. In 2018 the peak was in July, with 577.¹

Exhibit 02

Wildfires per month: 2026 against three earlier years

Source: MHCLG Fire and Rescue Data Platform, provisional wildfire statistics for England. Monthly counts; the 2026 line stops at August, the last month in the data.¹

Larger fires were part of it. Of the 2026 total, 468 burned more than 10,000 square metres, or one hectare, against 516 in 2022 and 246 in 2025.¹ Of the 2026 fires, 705 were classed as accidental and 359 as deliberate, with 290 recorded as not known.¹

Key finding. By number of fires, 2026 is the second-worst year in the series for January to August, and its July and August total (1,218) is within 10% of 2022's (1,338).

What we don't know

The statistics count incidents, not hectares burned in total, so they cannot say how much land was lost. The release does not attribute the count to weather. The link to the record summer heat is a plausible reading, not something this data shows. We do not know how far the provisional 2026 figure will rise: if late records lift it, the gap to 2022 could close, and the ranking could change.

Caveat. A count of fires is sensitive to how and when incidents are reported. The ministry classes these as official statistics in development, and notes that totals are amended as records arrive late. A single dry spell can produce many separate fires, so the count may overstate how many distinct events occurred. The 2025 total also differs slightly between the workbook's summary tab (985) and its underlying records (987); this piece uses the records throughout.¹

Method. Counts were computed in code from the row-level data sheet of MHCLG's ad hoc table A82, which includes records received by the Fire and Rescue Data Platform up to 4 October 2026. Wildfires are outdoor fires with more than 1,000 square metres of burned area. January-to-August totals, the 2011–2025 average (532), the 2.5 ratio, the July and August total and the cause and size-band shares were derived by Noodle News and checked against the published calendar-year totals for 2022 (1,592) and 2026 (1,354). 2010 is a partial year starting in April, so it is excluded from like-for-like comparisons; 2026 is provisional. No projections are used. The ministry is the only publisher of these counts; the Met Office statement is cited for the summer's temperature context only.

Sources.

T1Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Provisional wildfire statistics for England, 2010 to 2026 (Table A82), published 8 October 2026; retrieved 13 October 2026.
T1Met Office, Summer 2026 provisionally hottest on record for the UK, 1 September 2026.

Production. Researched, written and checked by an AI system working to the Noodle News standards; edited and published by the Noodle News editor.

Corrections. None. Material corrections will be logged here with date.

Figures to 13 Oct 2026. Noodle News · v1.0 · england-wildfires-2026.