Firefighters struggle to contain Madrid wildfires, as more than 140,000 evacuated in France and Spain

A wildfire near Madrid is “beyond the capacity” of firefighters to contain, Spanish officials have warned, after three fires west of the capital merged into a single blaze.

Spain’s government has declared a national emergency after blazes spun out of control in several areas close to Madrid, prompting the evacuation of at least 30,000 people.

Madrid’s regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso described it as the “worst fire in the history of the region”, with the area facing a “perfect storm” of high temperatures, relentless wind and merging fire fronts.

Meanwhile, more than 110,000 people have been evacuated in south-west France after wildfires tore through the Gironde and Landes regions.

The fire changed direction later on Friday and was heading towards Bordeaux, with further evacuations expected. French President Emmanuel Macron has mobilised the military to assist the response.

In Spain, local emergency services said wildfires were moving towards the municipalities of Robledo de Chavela and Fresnedillas de la Olivia, around 50km (31 miles) from the capital.

“The wildfire is at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain,” Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, told reporters.

“It’s not possible to attack the fire in that area, so defensive measures are being taken,” he added.

The Military Emergency Unit (UME) has been deployed to try to halt the advance of the flames, with its main focus protecting areas near the town of El Escorial.

Authorities are also monitoring a separate wildfire in nearby Ávila province, where officials fear the huge Burgohondo blaze could merge with the Madrid fire.

Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said authorities were doing “everything we can” to prevent the two merging.

More than 60,000 people have been affected in the Madrid region, with 30,000 forced to evacuate and 20,000 placed under lockdown, authorities said.

Francisco Martín, the government delegate in Madrid, warned those numbers could rise as “embers are flying for miles and the fire is jumping great distances”.

The mayor of El Tiemblo, one of the affected areas in Ávila, said flames spread from Navaluenga to the Iruelas Valley – a distance of about 20km (12 miles) – in less than half an hour. “It was horrific,” Arturo Varas González told laSexta.

At least 6,000 hectares of land have burned in the Madrid region, while the Ávila blaze has consumed almost 9,000 hectares, according to officials.

Eight municipalities have been evacuated, including Chapinería, Navas del Rey, Colmenar del Arroyo, Fresnedillas de la Oliva, Robledo de Chavela, Aldea del Fresno, Navalagamella and Zarzalejo.

Several other towns, including San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Pelayos de la Presa and Villa del Prado, remain under lockdown.

Ecologio Cabrera, 86, was forced to flee his village west of Madrid. “If you don’t run from it and you try to face it, it devours you,” he told AFP news agency from a sports hall in the village of Vilamanta where hundreds of evacuees have sought refuge.

His family tried to save their home by spraying it with garden hoses until firefighters arrived. “They arrived and told everybody to get out… I have never experienced anything like this.”

Madrid’s regional president Ayuso said the situation was “completely unusual and catastrophic,” with the priority being saving lives.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchezwill visit the zone’s emergency coordination centre early on Saturday, his administration said.

Earlier on Friday, Sánchez said people were “living through a dramatic situation” and urged citizens to take great care.

The Civil Guard has arrested one person and is investigating another over the Burgohondo fire, which officials said could have been caused by negligence involving heavy machinery used when a period of restrictions were in place, local media reported.

In south-west France, authorities have evacuated more than 110,000 people after wildfires ripped through the Gironde and Landes regions.

The Gironde blaze, described by local prefect Sophie Brocas as an “XXL fire”, has burned through more than 19,000 hectares (46,000 acres) of forest and destroyed about 80 homes.

Officials evacuated the entire Cap Ferret peninsula on the south-west coast, with hundreds escaping by boat after flames swept through the popular tourist destination.

The area has a year-round population of just under 8,000 people, but numbers can increase 10 fold during the summer holiday season.

Fire and rescue chief Marc Vermeulen said conditions were more severe than during the devastating fires that hit the region in 2022, with drought enabling the blaze to continue spreading through the night.

“We have never seen a convective fire of this magnitude,” France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told French broadcaster TF1, adding that around 50 firefighters had been injured.

He said the blaze was “self-sustaining” and changing direction, with the fire moving east towards Bordeaux on Friday evening.

“We are going to reorganise our response so we can fight it from the ground and prevent it from advancing toward Bordeaux,” he said.

Further south, another wildfire near Biscarrosse in the Landes region forced more than 23,000 people to evacuate homes, campsites, a nursing home and a summer camp.

Landes prefect Gilles Clavreul said the fire would not be extinguished by the end of Friday, with winds reaching 50km/h (31mph) and temperatures of 36-37C.

Philippe de Gonneville, the mayor of one of the worst-affected areas, Lège-Cap Ferret, said the region had “faced extreme weather conditions for the last month and a half” with no rain and above-average temperatures.

“It’s unheard of,” he said. “Neither we nor the firefighters have seen anything like it.”

President Macron described the wildfire situation in the country as “very tense”, particularly in Gironde.

He said France had activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism and will receive reinforcements, including two Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The European Union has deployed aircraft and helicopters to support firefighting efforts in Spain and France, as much of southern Europe grapples with repeated heatwaves and prolonged drought.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Hotter, drier conditions are leaving vegetation with less moisture, creating fuel that enables wildfires to ignite and spread more quickly.

A spark is still needed – most often from human activity, whether accidental or deliberate, or from lightning – but extreme heat, dry vegetation and strong winds can make fires burn faster and become much harder to contain.

Wildfires have burned more land in Europe already this year than the annual average for the past two decades, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

The European Environment Agency has said “climate change has increased forest fire risk across Europe”, with the greatest danger expected in southern Europe.