Spain is experiencing one of the worst fire seasons in the last 10 years, with more than 170,000 hectares burned since January. In fact, the fires in Madrid, Avila and Toledo are the "most serious and aggressive" in the history of the State, according to the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Spanish government has declared these three territories a national emergency zone, with nearly 90,000 evacuated or confined. The macro-fire affecting the center of the State joins the one from only a few weeks ago in Almeria, where there were 14 deaths — the last confirmed just today—. Fire has become the main environmental threat of recent summers and its management. And this is when climate denialism from the far-right has strongly emerged, which the left has tried to confront with empirical evidence of the virulence of recent fires.

The fire in Ávila, Madrid and Toledo, which has burned more than 80,000 hectares and affects 91,000 people – there are 63,000 evacuated and 28,000 confined – continues to burn amidst meteorological conditions that do not help to extinguish it, due to high temperatures and low humidity, but which are more favorable than those that will occur from Wednesday onwards. From the advanced command post in Navalcarnero, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has emphasized the importance of the next 48 hours: Monday and Tuesday will be two "absolutely central" days, because afterwards the forecasts are "really negative" and will complicate – even more – the possibility of putting an end to a fire that has been burning since last Wednesday. “Two days are coming that will not have the conditions we would like, but we can be proactive in advancing the control of the fire,” he added.

After a weekend of immense efforts to extinguish them, the flames continue to ravage various parts of the State affected by the fires. The forest fire that originated on Wednesday in Burgohondo (Ávila) has burned 50,000 hectares and covers a perimeter of about 280 kilometers. According to the third vice-president of the Spanish government, Sara Aagesen, it has become the largest in recent history in the State. This Sunday afternoon, the wind still gave it more strength, and since Friday it has become complicated due to the simultaneity with the Madrid fire, which has affected more than 25,000 hectares. Added to the 2,000 that have also been scorched in Toledo, this front – which ishas been jointly fighting as a single fire since Saturday– has burned 77,000 hectares in total. In addition, it has affected 90,000 people: 60,000 evacuated and 30,000 confined.

Double message from Pedro Sánchez from the advanced command post of the fire ravaging the Community of Madrid and which has burned almost 10,000 hectares. The Spanish president warned that the situation “remains complex” because, although temperatures have dropped, it is not known “what the evolution and intensity of the winds will be” in the coming hours, but at the same time he has not ruled out that, during the weekend, there will be a “window of opportunity” to “fight the fire and protect lives and population centers”. He verbalized this after it was reported that, during the night, both the Madrid fire and the Ávila fire – which has burned between 13,000 and 15,000 hectares – have remained out of control despite the efforts of the firefighters.

The fires in Madrid and Ávila continue without control. Mid-morning, seeing the evolution of the fires, the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) decided to create a “unified emergency command” to work with a single sector: “It is the best way to manage and save time”, justified Francisco Javier Marcos, head of the UME, from the advanced command post in Cenicientos. “Treating this catastrophe and this fire as one [...] will contribute to the efficiency, coordination, and agility of all the decisions we make”, he stressed. But the presence of the authorities in this municipality eighty kilometers from the capital was numbered. In the evening, the territory under joint operational direction was also extended to the province of Toledo.

The fires that are devastating the south of Madrid, Toledo, and Ávila in a completely uncontrolled manner have not brought a truce between the Spanish government and the executive of the Community of Madrid. After the Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso requested on Thursday night the declaration of a national emergency "due to the seriousness and simultaneity of forest fires in three autonomous communities" and that the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) joined the extinction services, this Friday Minister Óscar Puente has lashed out at the popular governments for this way of facing forest fires.

Extreme situation due to fires in the Community of Madrid, which have already burned more than 6,000 hectares, and in the province of Ávila, in Castilla y León, have ravaged 9,000 hectares. For this latter fire, the Civil Guard has arrested one person and is investigating another for allegedly starting it. Between the two fires, a total of 63,000 people are affected, including evacuated and confined.

The climate crisis makes this summer's historic and devastating wildfires on the Iberian Peninsula 40 times more likely, with sustained extreme conditions of heat, drought, and wind. This is the conclusion of a recent study by scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA)The data indicate that the heat waves and drought experienced during the summer months intensified the rapid spread of fires in Spain and Portugal, with temperatures above 40°C for ten consecutive days, specifically between August 8 and 17, the hottest episode ever recorded in the state.

Over the past seven weeks People have been remanded in custody for allegedly starting fires that plagued Galicia, Castilla y León, and Extremadura this August, according to data from the High Courts of Justice in these regions. However, since the beginning of June, more than fifty arrests have been made across the country for causing fires, according to the Ministry of the Interior's tally. Furthermore, 142 people have been investigated for the same reason since the beginning of summer.

The rain and the forecast of improved weather conditions allow us to be, for the first time, optimistic and to begin to see light at the end of the long tunnel of the last two weeks, in which 350,000 hectares have already burned in the northwest of the Peninsula. The Jarilla fire (Cáceres), the largest in recent history in Extremadura, has stabilized after eleven days of activity, and the Picos de Europa and several outbreaks in Ourense have also been brought under control. However, there are still nearly twenty active fires that prevent emergency teams from lowering their guard, much less declaring victory: in Galicia, new outbreaks have been declared in Pontevedra and Lugo, and in Castilla y León, the fires in the El Bierzo region are worrying due to the wind and the complicated .

Although temperatures are dropping across much of the country, the fires in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula are continuing unabated: some twenty serious fires are burning simultaneously, and 2025 has already become the worst year of the 21st century in terms of fires. Those affecting the provinces of Ourense (Galicia), northwest Castilla y León, and Cáceres (Extremadura) are of greatest concern to emergency services. At this point, there are still 21 active fires in phase 2 of a maximum scale of 3, meaning they pose an imminent risk to people and property, according to the latest data from the State Coordination Committee (Cecod).

There will be an increasing number of wildfires that cannot be controlled. This is what experts warn, both scientists and technicians and professionals who risk their lives fighting fires, because the climate crisis is worsening the context in which they occur and making them more difficult to extinguish. They have always occurred, it's true, and in our Mediterranean climate they are a constant, but now, when they occur, they can be more lethal due to the intensification of extreme events caused by global warming. This happens with fire and also with water. Large torrents, known as DANAS, are also becoming more intense and frequent, so it is essential to be prepared.

The threat of the fire that has been burning the western half of Spain for a week has forced the evacuation of more than 31,100 people in several provinces, while most of the fires burn out of control, fueled by high temperatures and that They have already devastated 200,000 hectaresThe main outbreaks are concentrated in Extremadura, Castile and León, and Galicia, where up to 6,000 National Police, Civil Guard, and Civil Protection personnel, as well as firefighter crews, have been deployed, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements sent from various European countries to help extinguish the fires. In northeast Zamora (Castile and León), six municipalities around Lake Sanabria are under lockdown and another six have been evacuated, with a total of 8,000 people affected.

Spain burnsThe chain of simultaneous fires in Galicia, Castile and León, the Community of Madrid, Andalusia, Extremadura, and Valencia is overwhelming firefighters and adding to the already complex political climate. The real fire and the metaphorical political fire are feeding off each other. The fratricidal struggle between the right and the left has found its way into this episode of forest fires. another reason for overheatingIn this politically fractured Spain, everything is exploited, even scorched earth. Even in cases of natural disasters like this, Spanish politics makes no concessions, no respite.