Spain: 26,000 ha ravaged, 1,200 evacuated… the fire 100 km north of Madrid does not weaken

The forest fire continues to rage about a hundred kilometers north of Madrid, in the Guadalajara region of Spain. The fire which has been raging since Thursday July 16 has already ravaged 26,000 ha and left 1,200 people evacuated, according to the latest report from the Spanish authorities on Monday July 20.

The fire started from the village of La Mierla, in Castile-La Mancha, in central Spain. In recent hours, it has gained ground, particularly in the Sierra Norte natural park.

“Of course, the forest mass and agricultural land that are burning is very serious, but what is truly important for us is to protect human lives,” Emiliano García-Page, the regional president of Castile-La Mancha, announced to the press this Monday, July 16.

Significant resources deployed

For the moment, the fire has not caused any casualties, but public authorities have ordered the evacuation of 28 hamlets on the eve of a new heat wave in the country which could fuel the fires, with temperatures expected to exceed 40 ° C in a large part of the country.

To try to contain the fire, two planes and around fifty ground resources are mobilized by the 278 firefighters engaged in this fight against the fire according to information from the forest fire prevention and extinction service of the government of Castile-La Mancha published on X.

What makes this fire so complex is that it is occurring in “the Spain of abandoned territories” with “huge areas that are dotted with microvillages, very small hamlets of population,” according to Emiliano García-Page.

At the same time, another fire near the province of Zaragoza, in the north-east of the country, which burned 15,000 ha and caused no casualties, has been contained since Sunday July 19 after a significant deployment of resources by the Spanish Civil Guard.

Fires which continue while Spain has just experienced one of the deadliest fires in its recent history, with the forest fire which took place in Andalusia on July 9, killing 13 people and ravaging 7,000 ha.

“Yesterday, just as Spain was once again crowned world champion, at the time it was taking place, not only were hundreds of people fighting the fire without being able to follow the match, but we had to order five new evacuations,” laments Emiliano García-Page. “It is probably the alert, the most complex deployment, while all of Spain is vibrating for something else,” he said.

Since the start of the year, nearly 104,423 ha have been ravaged by fires in Spain according to Effis, the European forest fire information system.