Spain declared a national emergency on the night of July 23 after a series of wildfires threatened communities near Madrid and the province of Avila, forcing more than 10,000 people to flee the encroaching flames.
The Spanish Interior Ministry said the decision was taken due to the simultaneous outbreak of several fires and bad weather conditions, and to mobilize resources from various public administrations.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a July 24 post on X that the country was “living through a dramatic situation.”
“Forest fires are ravaging thousands of hectares and affecting numerous communities. I want to extend my full solidarity to all the people who are watching as the fire scorches their woodlands and threatens their homes,” he said, adding that the government has “deployed all available resources” and will “stand by your side during the emergency and in the recovery.”
Madrid’s regional government asked for help, labeling the situation as one of “extreme gravity,” saying active fires in Villa del Prado, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, and Almorox, in neighboring Castile-La Mancha, were at risk of going beyond current extinguishing capacity.
It also warned that the wildfire in Burgohondo, Avila, could reach the Madrid region in the coming hours due to the weather and that more than 10,000 people have been evacuated from Villa del Prado, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Pelayos de la Presa, and Aldea del Fresno.
Under Spain’s National Civil Protection System law, the interior ministry’s declaration places the emergency under the direct authority of the Spanish interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. This is the first time such a declaration has been made in relation to a wildfire.
More than 270 emergency personnel and 40 ground units have been deployed in the affected areas, alongside several contingents of the Military Emergency Unit, according to the Madrid regional government.
Spain, like much of southern Europe, has been ravaged by wildfires this summer, with Sanchez saying in a July 22 post on X that “22 major fires have scorched more than 100,000 hectares. Practically the same as the annual average burned over the last decade.”
These blazes have so far claimed the lives of 13 people, making 2026 one of the deadliest wildfire seasons in decades.
Those victims include one Spaniard and 12 foreigners: seven from the UK, three from Belgium, one from France, and one from the United States, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported on July 15, citing official figures.
Across the Pyrenees in France, the government called on the European Union for aid to extinguish a blaze on its Atlantic coast.
French authorities ordered the evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot, due to a large wildfire.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post earlier the same morning that “France has requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism.”
“We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” he added.
Some 40,000 people were evacuated from the area, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in a July 24 post on X.
Nuñez said that 10,000 hectares have been ravaged by flames in the Gironde region, French commercial radio station RTL reports.
“We currently have 32 fires burning, which obviously don’t all have the same severity,” he said, adding France had “surpassed the threshold of 50,000 hectares burned since January 1st of this year.”
“So if you compare it to last year, it’s almost three times as much.”
