Wildfire season is in full swing—and it’s shaping up to be one of the worst in recorded history.

Since the beginning of the year, the Pacific Northwest has seen millions of acres burn. The fires have prompted more than 100,000 evacuations, destroyed hundreds of homes, and brought wildfire smoke to countless other states—and they’re still battling dozens of active blazes.

It’s not just Oregon and Washington, either. It’s been an unbelievably destructive wildfire season in the U.S., with more than 5 million acres burning across nearly 50,000 incidents.

But nowhere has the destruction been worse than in Southern Europe.

Since late July, massive wildfires have wrought havoc near Bordeaux and Madrid, burning more area in just a few weeks than what typically burns in an entire year. Italy, Albania, and Portugal are battling blazes of their own, while Greece is only just starting to recover from weeks of fire exacerbated by strong winds.

This is reality on the fastest-warming continent in the world—and after months of climate-fueled extreme heat, any other European country could be next.

According to World Weather Attribution, climate change has made the hot and dry conditions that fueled Spain’s wildfires 20 times more likely, and doubled the odds of the severe fire conditions in France. A separate study released on the same day concluded that the number of extreme fire weather days in Southern Europe has more than doubled over the past few decades.

But that hasn’t stopped some reporters from using this moment to downplay the severity of the crisis.

In a recent opinion piece, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board argues that “green policies” are to blame for the increased frequency and intensity of Europe’s wildfires. They emphasize that efforts to protect 30% of the continent by 2030 have allowed vegetation and deadwood to accumulate, and go on to say that blaming climate change encourages spending on “costly solutions”—money we should be investing in forest management and fire prevention instead.

It’s safe to say that they’re missing the bigger picture.

Forest management and fire prevention efforts are important. But climate forcing has become so strong that large-scale blazes are inevitable—and if we bet on forest management alone, there will be no chance of mitigating the whiplash that’s driving these blazes.

Join us as we challenge this blatant example of disinformation—and help others understand how climate change is fueling the devastation!