Fast-spreading wildfire kills at least 12 in southern Spain

At least 12 people have been killed and 23 are unaccounted for after one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires broke out in the south-eastern province of Almería as the country endures its second heatwave of the summer.

The regional government of Andalucía said the victims, four of whom are believed to be British, had died while trying to escape the flames near the village of Bédar in the municipality of Los Gallardos.

“There are no words for such pain and I want to offer our condolences to the families of the dead,” Antonio Sanz, the region’s emergency minister, said on Friday morning. “This is terrible news and today the hearts of the people of Andalucía are in mourning.”

Sanz said emergency services were tackling a “terrible and very complex fire” that was “spreading very fast”.

He said eight people had been injured – four of them seriously – and that the authorities were trying to establish whether there were any more victims of the fire, which began on Thursday afternoon.

According to Sanz, those who had been found dead had tried to flee despite advice recommending that people stay put or follow an official evacuation route. He added that the fire had not ultimately reached Bédar.

“Unfortunately the decision to look for another way out through a ravine was a real trap,” he said. “Four people who died in one vehicle are thought to be British as the car they were found in was right-hand drive. Seven other people who had got out of their cars and were trying to walk out on a route that wasn’t the evacuation route suffered terrible consequences. It would appear that most of them were also foreigners, but their identification has yet to be confirmed.”

The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “My thoughts are with all those affected, including British nationals. We are in close contact with the Spanish authorities and stand ready to support those affected. Those in the area should continue to follow official advice.”

The Guardia Civil urged people trying to trace missing family members to go to its station in the nearby town of La Garrucha. “The main objective is to identify the missing people and to be able to take the DNA samples in order to identify the victims as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson said.

Sanz said efforts to bring in heavy firefighting machinery were being hindered by limited access and “terrible” topography. He added that 800 people had been evacuated, including nearly 200 who were being accommodated in shelters.

Sanz also urged people to follow official advice, saying: “In an emergency, the authorities’ instructions are not recommendations; they are designed to protect lives. If evacuation or confinement is ordered, do so immediately and following the established routes.” Authorities believe the blaze may have been caused by a fallen power line.

Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, the regional president of Andalucía, offered his condolences to all those affected by the fire, which he described as “one of the fastest and most complex fires in recent years”.

He added: “Everything is very dry due to the heatwaves, making it the perfect fuel, and combined with the wind, it’s a ticking timebomb.”

By Friday morning, 150 firefighters were tackling the blaze and 220 soldiers from the country’s military emergencies unit were being deployed to help them.

The mayor of Los Gallardos, Francisco Miguel Reyes Martín, said people in the area had been devastated by the unprecedented fire. “This is the first time that we’ve had a fire as destructive as this,” he told Cadena Ser radio. “It looks like a bomb has gone off in our municipality.”

Moreno’s conservative People’s party (PP) – which has governed Andalucía for the past seven years – offered its condolences to all the victims of the fire, but also sought to suggest that the country’s socialist-led central government had failed to do enough to prevent the blazes. In fact, under Spain’s devolved system, it is regional governments, rather than the central government, that are responsible for preventing and managing wildfires, and for drawing up emergency response plans.

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“Spain needs better public services across all areas – especially to prevent and tackle tragedies like the one we’ve suffered in Almería today,” said the PP’s secretary general, Miguel Tellado. “Spain urgently needs a central government focused solely and exclusively on management – and that is something that has been abandoned in Spanish politics over the last few years.”

The accusation drew a furious response from Spain’s socialist transport minister, Óscar Puente.

“Is this shameless piece of trash blaming the Spanish government for the Almería fire and its consequences?” Puente said in a post on X. “When they cut back on firefighting personnel, which is their responsibility?” He also noted that Moreno’s government had failed to send an emergency alert about the fire to people’s mobile phones. The PP regional government of València was heavily criticised for waiting hours to send an emergency alert to people’s phones when deadly floods hit the eastern area in October 2024.

Extreme heat has fuelled devastating wildfires across southern Europe in recent years, the latest in a series of disasters exacerbated by climate breakdown amid a continental rollback of green policies.

In 2017, 66 people died when wildfires ravaged central parts of Portugal. Many of the dead perished in their cars as they tried to flee the flames. At least seven people died in wildfires in Spain in 2025, a year in which a record 393,000 hectares (971,000 acres) of land was consumed by blazes.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urged people to take extra care. “We’re feeling immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almería,” he said. “I want to convey my condolences to the families of those who died in the Los Gallardos forest fire. My wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured and my solidarity with all the affected neighbours.”

In September last year, Sánchez announced a 10-point plan to prepare the country for the climate emergency, saying: “If we don’t want to bequeath our children a Spain that’s grey from fire and flames, or a Spain that’s brown from floods, then we need a Spain that’s greener.”

He said last August’s heatwave-fuelled wildfires – which burned through an area six times the size of Ibiza and required “the biggest human and technical deployment” ever seen in Spain – showed that immediate action had to be taken to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

Over the past five years, Sánchez added, the climate emergency had caused more than 20,000 deaths and cost the public purse €32bn (£28bn) in material losses.

Health authorities in Spain and France have said that last month’s extreme heat was responsible for more than 2,000 excess deaths in the two countries.