Spain wildfire evacuees shelter in Madrid as crews fight blazes
Spain moved evacuees into Madrid sports halls as wildfires forced 60,000 from homes and a separate blaze killed one person.
By Tom Brennan · Health & Medicine Correspondent
3 min read
Spain wildfire evacuees were being housed in sports halls around Madrid on Saturday as firefighters battled major blazes west of the capital and officials warned that changing winds could make the fight harder. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said crews were focused on protecting people and populated areas, while a separate fire in eastern Spain killed one person, according to local authorities.
The Interior Ministry said 60,000 people had been forced to leave their homes in the dry countryside near Madrid and in neighboring Ávila province. Officials have described the fire affecting the area as the worst on record for the region; a central government delegate in Madrid had earlier put the number of evacuees at about 70,000.
Sánchez, speaking in Cenicientos inside the fire zone, said the government’s priority was to save lives. He also cautioned that the hours ahead could be difficult because officials did not yet know how the wind would behave, despite a drop in temperatures.
Smoke from the fires reached central Madrid early Saturday, leaving a burning smell in city streets and prompting residents to close windows. Spain’s Health Ministry advised on X that people limit time outdoors because air quality had worsened.
How many people have been evacuated in Spain's wildfires?
The Interior Ministry said Saturday afternoon on X that nearly 30,000 people had been evacuated from villages near Madrid and another nearly 30,000 from Ávila province. It also said 8,000 people in Madrid and 20,000 in Ávila had been told to stay inside their homes.
The Madrid regional government said on X that more than 2,000 people were being cared for in 14 emergency evacuation centers. Evacuees from affected villages were taken by bus to shelters in sports halls around the capital.
At a gymnasium in the northern Madrid suburb of Alcobendas, Rosa, a 56-year-old evacuee from Robledo de Chavela, told AFP she initially resisted leaving because she wanted caregivers to help rescue feral cats she looks after. She said smoke worsened her asthma, making her cough and vomit, before police came to take her out of the village.
Another evacuee, Jacqueline Villafranca, 38, from Peru, told AFP she left Navalagamella with her husband and two daughters after alerts sounded on phones Friday evening. She said her older daughter came home from camp complaining that smoke was burning her eyes.
What caused the latest concern for firefighters?
Two separate wildfires in the Madrid region joined on Friday, forming a much larger blaze, according to officials. That fire threatened to connect with a third fire near Ávila in Castilla y León.
Sánchez said cooler overnight conditions had created a limited chance over the weekend to contain the fire. The concern remained wind, which can push flames across dry ground and complicate evacuations and firefighting.
In eastern Spain, a smaller blaze in a ravine near Valencia killed one person, the local authority in Manises said on X. It did not provide further details.
Spain has already seen more than 168,000 hectares burned this year, according to the European Union’s European Forest Fire Information System. The same system said Spain recorded its worst wildfire season in recent history in 2025, when more than 393,000 hectares burned.
This story draws on original reporting from Phys.org.