Forest fires advance in six Spanish regions causing evacuation of more than 9,500 people

Spain is entering the eleventh consecutive day of the second official heatwave this summer. Extreme temperatures and parched bushes and groves have created serious conditions for the emergence and spread of wildfires. More than a dozen fires were active on Tuesday, having already burned thousands of hectares in six regions: Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia, Andalucía, Madrid and Extremadura.

The spread of the flames, in many cases aided by strong winds, forced the confinement of residents in several towns and residential areas and the eviction of more than 9,500 residents in León, Zamora, Palencia, Orense, Madrid and Cadiz.

To date, the fires have directly or indirectly caused three deaths. Last week, a firefighter died in a traffic accident in Ávila while on his way to help in the extinguishing of a fire. On Tuesday, a 50-year-old man who suffered burns to 98% of his body after getting trapped at the equestrian centre in Soto de Viñuelas, where he worked, died as a result of the Tres Cantos fire in the region of Madrid. On the same day, the fire in Nogarejas (León) claimed the life of a 35-year-old volunteer, who was working with a brush cutter on firefighting tasks.

In addition, more than a dozen people were injured, among them volunteers in Nogarejas (two); firefighters in Orense (four); residents of Abejera (Zamora) who were still in the village after it was evacuated (six). Most of them were treated for burns or smoke inhalation.

The increase in the number of fires, with more than 20 in the last week and more than 25,000 hectares devastated by the flames, led the Ministry of the Interior to declare the activation of a 'pre-emergency phase' to coordinate more effectively the deployment of resources to help the affected regions. An urgent meeting of the state coordination and management committee (Cecod), with the participation of the heads of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Ministry of the Defence, was also called.

The pre-emergency situation does not take away regional authority, but it does allow the government to reinforce coordination and mobilise resources of the general state administration in the face of one of the most serious waves of fires in recent years. State resources include aerial extinguishing and firefighting brigades, as well as a thousand troops and equipment from the military emergency unit (Ume).

Meanwhile, 5,000 police and Guardia Civil officers are collaborating in extinguishing fires, controlling the roads in affected areas, evacuating people and arresting possible arsonists. Four people have been arrested as suspects of starting some of the fires in this latest wave of incidents. A man was arrested in Ávila on Tuesday on suspicion of setting the Cuevas del Valle fire, which burnt 2,200 hectares. He had been temporarily working on firefighting tasks and it is believed that he had set the fire in order to be hired.

A 63-year-old woman was also arrested in Muxía (Coruña) on suspicion of starting five fires. The last two detainees are a 28-year-old man and another woman, both arrested in Orense. In addition, it is believed that the author of the fire in Caños de Meca (Cadiz) is a man hospitalised with burns to his hands.

The Royal Household has announced that King Felipe VI is in "permanent contact" with the government and receives all the latest information on the situation. He later spoke by telephone with the regional presidents of Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía to obtain as much information as possible about the fires ravaging these regions.

The flames are spreading throughout the western half of the peninsula, but two regions are the most affected - Castilla y León and Galicia. The former ended Tuesday with nine active forest fires and 6,500 evacuated residents. Most of the fires are concentrated in León, where the fire that devastated the natural site of Las Médulas was already 80% contained, and Zamora, where the two most serious fires are being fought, with eight villages evacuated and the flames out of control.

The most damaging is the Molezuelas de Carballeda fire, with 3,500 hectares destroyed and where the advance of the flames has forced the evacuation of more than 20 towns, including Congosta, Villageriz, Alcubillas de Nogales, Fuente Encalada, Carracedo and San Pedro de la Viña. The Puercas fire in the same province has spread, forcing the evacuation of Puercas and Ferreruela de Tábara. A third fire in Cervera de Pisuerga (Palencia) forced the evacuation of the Abadía de Lebanza and the confinement of El Campo and Lebanza.

The second epicentre is Galicia, with 12 active fires, eight of them in the province of Orense. The fire in Chandrexa de Queixa is the largest in the province, with more than 5,100 hectares burned - more than the total surface area affected by fires throughout the entire 2024 in Galicia. It was precisely in this municipality that a new fire forced the confinement of a children's camp on Tuesday night, as some of the flames reached a little more than a hundred metres from the site. Fortunately, a line of containment was established.

Regional minister of rural affairs María José Gómez has confirmed that the situation in Galicia "is concerning" due to the wave of fires, with "about 40 or 50 a day", which she attributes to "extremely high arson activity".

The situation in Tarifa (Cadiz), where the fire on Monday caused the evacuation of some 2,000 people from their houses and from hotels and beaches, was stabilised shortly before midnight on Tuesday. Regional minister of the presidency of the Junta Antonio Sanz said he had "well-founded suspicions" that the fire was intentional.

Another fire in Andalucía forced the evacuation of 250 people in the area of Los Romeros, in Jabugo (Huelva). The fire, which remains at emergency level 1, was caused by a lightning.

The fire in Navalmoralejo (Toledo) has already devastated some 3,250 hectares (2,500 in Cáceres territory) and forced the closure of six local roads. The residents of Navalmoralejo, Jarilla, Villar de Plasencia and Cabezabellosa have been evacuated, while Villar de Pedroso has been confined, as there was also concern about the advance of another fire in the area between the Jerte and Ambroz Valleys.

Again in Toledo, the authorities were forced to raise emergency level 2 due to another fire that broke out on Tuesday afternoon near the town of Alberche del Caudillo.

Residential areas near Madrid city that were under a threat also had to be evacuated as a result of the Tres Cantos fire, which spread rapidly, covering six kilometres in 40 minutes until it devastated 1,500 hectares and burnt several houses, driven by strong gusts of wind of up to 70km/h. The fire, which also affected part of the San Sebastián de los Reyes municipality, was declared under control on Tuesday night, although not yet extinguished.

The fire damaged the elite private King's College and spread across grassland and scrubland close to business parks and residential areas. The smell of combustion reached practically the entire centre of Madrid.

Smoke from the fire that broke out shortly after 1.30pm on Tuesday on the outskirts of Orense, near the railway tracks between the provincial capital and the village of Taboadela, forced Spain's railway operator Renfe to suspend the high-speed AVE service for five hours.

Trains between Madrid and Galicia were able to run again in the area shortly after 9pm.Rail traffic between Orense and Santiago de Compostela was halted for more than four hours for the same reason. The fire had caused problems for train traffic in the same province the previous week. Another fire had suspended traffic between Ávila and Madrid at the end of July.