This summer is on track to become Europe’s biggest fire season in history, as devastating blazes rip across countries, forcing thousands to evacuate and homes burned to the ground.

By the end of July, the amount of burnt areas in the EU reached almost 435,000 hectares due to fires this year, with concerns that dry and hot temperatures are only increasing the potential for more fires to start.

Residents of countries such as France, Spain and Greece have faced evacuation from hard-hit areas, while many tourists on holiday have also been moved out of their hotels or turned away from popular resort towns.

Travellers who have a holiday booked this summer are now experiencing the very limited cover they have if they no longer want to go abroad due to concerns over the fires.

While regional authorities in Gironde, where some of the worst wildfires have erupted, have urged tourists to avoid the area until further notice, flights to Bordeaux are still operating, and the UK Foreign Office has not warned against travelling to the area.

The reality is, it is usually up to the UK government (if you are a UK traveller) or holiday providers to cancel a holiday, rather than the customer, if they are in with a chance of claiming money back due to wildfire concerns.

The Independent spoke to Simon McCulloch, the chief growth officer of holiday insurance company Staysure, who explained what holidaymakers need to know about their rights as the wildfires continue to disrupt and destroy in Europe.

My holiday has been cancelled. What is my next step?

Mr McCulloch explained first of all that claiming money back on a cancelled trip depends on whether you booked a package holiday or not.

“If you've booked a package holiday [and it gets cancelled] then you should be covered by Atol or Abta, the UK travel providers' protection systems. So what that means is effectively it's their job to get you home … and provide you with some sort of refund, a rebook or credit.

“If you arrange everything yourself, then that's where you would be looking for travel insurance to help.”

Travel disruption cover, which is included as standard in a lot of insurance, will help with additional costs that travellers have in terms of getting back to the UK.

My holiday has not been cancelled. But I don’t want to go.

While policies can differ between insurance providers, travel insurance will usually cover three main perils: medical care while away, baggage and cancellations due to unforeseen circumstances like illness or injury.

“It doesn't cover any circumstance. It covers something that happens to you, rather than a change of mind,” Mr McCulloch said. “So, for example, if you saw the wildfires on TV and you just thought, I don't like the look of that. I think I'll just cancel. You wouldn’t be covered under a normal travel insurance policy.”

This is different when the UK’s Foreign Office (FCDO) declares that you should not travel to a country, as protected package holidays will usually be cancelled and refunded or rearranged in this scenario.

In the case of France, Spain, Greece, and other countries experiencing devastating wildfires, the FCDO has not declared any new “do not travel” alerts, which has actually caused anguish for some people who no longer wish to go on holiday.

The bottom line: if the government does not declare a “do not travel” warning, and package holidays, hotels and airlines are happy to carry out bookings, then there is not a lot of scope in getting money back from a holiday that you don’t go on.

Mr McCulloch says the insurance industry will in the future have to adapt its policies to potential disruption from natural disasters, as wildfires have only just shown unprecedented severity in recent years.

France is on track for its worst season since satellite records began in the early 2000s. Three of the 15 largest wildfires since the European Union began recording data 20 years ago have also burned during the past month.

Despite the usual rules, Mr McCulloch says it is always worth checking with your travel insurance provider just in case.

“My recommendation would be, other than airlines and package holiday providers, contact your travel insurer anyway, because a lot of people don't necessarily know the full detail of what their policy covers,” he said, as even if you cannot make a claim, they could point you in the direction of assistance.

What should I know when buying insurance in the future?

Mr McCulloch reminds people that you can't be on holiday and then buy insurance because “that's what they call a known event”. You have to buy the cover before.

When buying insurance in the future, there are some things that could help ease costs if exceptional circumstances arise, such as a policy called travel disruption extension.

“You can get something called travel disruption extension. It would probably cost you an extra tenner or so. That cover would cover things like geological or weather events, emergencies, or situations that are extreme that are not to do with a medical [condition] that affects you.”

“We're seeing about 20 per cent of customers looking at that as an add-on to their normal travel insurance policy now, which is up significantly from where it was a year or two ago.”

He also said there is a new policy emerging in the market called “cancel for any reason” cover, which means you can cancel your trip and claim insurance on almost any grounds, but it is a very expensive policy.

Read more: The European tourist destinations under threat from wildfires and heatwaves