Spain has declared a national emergency after a series of major wildfires forced the evacuation of around 10,000 people from towns surrounding Madrid.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska activated the country’s highest level of civil protection on Thursday night for the Community of Madrid and Avila provinces as three major fires continued to burn across central Spain.
The decision hands operational control of the emergency to Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME), allowing resources from multiple regional and national authorities to be coordinated under a single command.
The fires, burning near Villa del Prado, San Martin de Valdeiglesias and Almorox in neighbouring Toledo province, have spread across the borders of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y Leon.
Around 10,000 residents have been evacuated from the Madrid municipalities of Villa del Prado, San Martin de Valdeiglesias, Pelayos de la Presa and Aldea del Fresno.
Authorities have also warned that a separate wildfire in Burgohondo (Avila) could spread into the Madrid region due to adverse weather conditions.
In San Martin de Valdeiglesias, a care home has been placed under precautionary lockdown, while residents in the San Ramon and Jaracruz housing developments have been told to remain indoors.
Meanwhile, Madrid’s 112 emergency service issued an ES-Alert emergency warning to residents of Pelayos de la Presa, urging them to move towards the town centre as flames approached.
The Almorox wildfire has already burned around 1,000 hectares and destroyed at least 26 homes, most of them in the Madrid region. Although firefighters have managed to establish a perimeter around the blaze, it remains out of control.
The fire has also forced the confinement of residents in parts of Calalberche, in the Toledo municipality of Santa Cruz del Retamar.
Madrid’s regional government has reinforced hospitals and healthcare centres to prepare for any increase in casualties linked to the fires.
At least five regional roads remain closed, including sections of the M-501, M-507, M-540 and M-541, while emergency crews continue battling the blazes.
The fires come on the final day of Spain’s latest heatwave, with soaring temperatures, dry vegetation and strong winds combining to create extremely dangerous wildfire conditions across large parts of the country.
