Spain's biggest wildfire near Madrid forces mass evacuations in Avila

Spain's record wildfire in Avila has forced mass evacuations as firefighters retreat from direct attack. The blaze is exposing how climate extremes and neglected land are changing fire response.Spain is battling its largest recorded wildfire near Madrid, a blaze that has burned 500 square kilometres and forced 25,000 people to leave villages in the hills of Avila. Firefighters say the scale and speed of the fire are unlike anything they have seen before, and are changing the way they respond on the ground.With flames moving too fast and burning too intensely to be tackled directly in some areas, crews are now focusing first on evacuations and protecting homes. No deaths have been reported from these fires, while 79,000 people have fled their homes because of the Avila fire, another nearby fire in the Madrid region and one in eastern Castellon.Javier Garcia, a Spanish firefighter with two decades of experience protecting woodlands and rural communities, said: "This doesn't have a precedent." Speaking by phone before another long day, he said: "The evolution is alarming." Garcia said firefighters who once worked mainly in the wilderness are now the last line of defence for people and property. "That gives us more work and more stress," he said. "Now it is lives first, then homes, and after, the forest."Garcia works with one of Spain's emergency wildfire brigades, which are sent in to support regional crews when extra help is needed. Their 12-hour shifts involve hosing down burning trees and cutting away undergrowth before it can feed the flames. His 40-member unit, based in Avila, has been working for three days on the Avila fire. Before that, they fought fires in Guadalajara and near Zaragoza in recent weeks. The Guadalajara fire burned 320 square kilometres, making it Spain's third largest on record. "Until last year, I had never experienced fighting one big fire after another," the 43-year-old said. Large parts of Spain have long been prone to wildfires because of hot summers and a relatively dry climate. But experts and government officials say climate change has increased the frequency of heatwaves and drought, extending the period of high fire risk. Garcia said there used to be around 15 days of extreme fire risk each year, but firefighters are now on alert for 30 to 40 days. Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen has said fires have burned 1,530 square kilometres in Spain this year, six times the area scorched by blazes in the first half of 2025. In neighbouring France, a major fire has also forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes.Raul Guerrero, 29, who has worked as a firefighter in Castilla y Leon for the past decade, said this blaze cannot be compared with any fire he has fought before. He said his 40-member unit has had to pull back to safer ground several times when the risk of being trapped became too great. At several moments, he said, the fire was "beyond the capacity of extinction", meaning "the fire is so virulent and has such power that no matter what you do, you can't put it out." Asked how that made him feel, Guerrero said: "Above all, impotent." Guerrero said one of the reasons wildfires are becoming harder to fight is the loss of farms, orchards and local forestry activity that once created buffer zones around villages and towns. Vegetation now grows right up to homes, he said, and he called on property owners and local authorities to clear brush near houses and manage forests throughout the year. Otherwise, he warned, that vegetation will remain "pure gunpowder" for future fires. For firefighters in Spain, the Avila blaze has become a stark example of how larger and more dangerous fires are reshaping both the threat and the response.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Jul 28, 2026 17:34 IST