The ICNF's provisional report shows that the most common causes of the fires investigated up to that date were burning (32%), followed by "attributable arson" (25%) and rekindling (8%).

The ICNF reports that, of the 4,758 rural fires recorded through the end of July, 2,895 were investigated, of which 61% have completed the cause investigation process.

According to the provisional report, between January 1st and July 31st, 4,758 rural fires broke out, resulting in 33,224 hectares (ha) of burned area, including settlements (15,545 ha), scrubland (13,704 ha), and agriculture (3,975 ha).

Compared to the same period last year, the flames consumed about seven times more land, and the number of fires increased by 85%.

"The year 2025, through July 31st, has the second-lowest number of fires and the third-highest amount of burned area since 2015," the document states.

The ICNF highlights that July recorded 50% of this year's fires, totalling 2,367, and 77% of the burned area, 25,602 hectares.

The same document also indicates that, by the end of July, 40 "major fires" had occurred, resulting in 27,150 hectares of burned area. The largest fire was the one that started on July 26th in the municipality of Ponte da Barca (Viana do Castelo) and, according to the ICNF, consumed 5,707 hectares of forest, followed by fires that started on July 28th in the municipalities of Arouca (Aveiro), with 4,755 hectares, and Penamacor (Castelo Branco), with 2,904 hectares.

The report also indicates that Porto (1,014) was the district with the highest number of fires as of July 31st, followed by Braga (445) and Viana do Castelo (394). The ICNF notes that these are mostly small fires, with no more than one hectare of burned area.

In turn, the district most affected by the burned area is Viana do Castelo, with 7,293 hectares, approximately 22% of the total area, followed by Aveiro, with 5,790 hectares (17% of the total), and Castelo Branco, with 3,193 hectares (10% of the total).

This ICNF report does not include the fires recorded since the first days of August.