Two of the three fires that broke out west of Madrid are “on the verge of merging” to form a “single blaze”, worried the prefect of the region, warning that the fire, which led to the evacuation of 10,000 people, was “out of control”.
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“The two fires, that of San Martín and that of Villa del Prado, are about to merge and transform into a single blaze that advances towards Navas del Rey,” Francisco Martín told the press, adding that new villages in the area were being evacuated.
Earlier in the morning, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that “the main objective this morning is to avoid the convergence of fires.”
But the weather conditions are complicating the task of firefighters and soldiers working to try to contain the flames, according to images released by the Civil Guard.
AFP
“We are facing an unfavorable situation” because of the weather conditions, in particular “wind gusts (…) of more than 50 km/h”, low humidity and high temperatures, said Mr. Grande-Marlaska, during his visit to the command post installed in the village of Cenicientos, near Madrid.
The three other fires that broke out in villages about 70 km west of the center of the capital, in the Madrid region, ravaged some 3,000 hectares on Friday, he added.
Several villages had to be evacuated and new localities were added to the list of places threatened by fire on Friday.
In Navas del Rey, about 15 km from San Martín de Valdeiglesias, the smoke completely blocks the sky, where the sun can barely be seen, and ash covers the landscape, noted an AFP journalist.
AFP
On the roads, only fire trucks and ambulances are traveling, and the Civil Guard is carrying out checks to prevent unauthorized vehicles from approaching the blaze.
In the neighboring region of Castile and Leon, more than 9,000 hectares have already burned in the fire raging in the province of Avila, around the village of Burgohondo
AFP
AFP
– “Extreme” risk –
“Almost the entire territory of the Community of Madrid is today in very high or extreme danger of forest fires,” the region’s prefecture alerted on X, calling on the population “to take greater precautions” to avoid outbreaks of fire.
Schools remain closed in several confined villages, she adds.
Spain requested additional air resources by activating the European Union’s civil protection mechanism, and Brussels indicated that it had deployed four water bomber planes.
AFP
During the night from Thursday to Friday, the government declared a “state of emergency” in the Madrid region and in the province of Ávila, near the capital, a device which allows the State to mobilize more resources to put out the fires.
In recent days, numerous fires have broken out in Spain, aided by the heat wave plaguing the country. They advance very quickly, especially in desert areas, where the bush provides the ideal fuel to fuel the flames.
The largest fire is on the other side of Madrid, in the province of Guadalajara, about a hundred kilometers north of the capital, devastating 32,000 hectares in one week.
In total, nearly 130,000 hectares have already burned since January 1 in Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
In 2025, more than 393,000 hectares had been devoured by flames in Spain, according to EFFIS, which represents the worst toll in the country’s recent history.
