The Spanish government has declared a national state of emergency due to wildfires that went out of control on the outskirts of the capital Madrid, leading to evacuations and road closures. It is the first time a national emergency has been declared for wildfires.
The emergency has been declared for blazes in the Madrid region as well as in the Ávila province, the Interior Ministry said. More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from towns as little as 50 kilometers from Madrid, with more than 270 emergency workers trying to extinguish the fire, Madrid’s emergency services agency posted on X. In Ávila, about 1,500 people have been evacuated. Several highways have been closed, including sections of the M507 and the M501.
By declaring a national emergency, the Spanish government has taken control of the emergency response, with the Interior Ministry coordinating efforts and the country’s military emergency unit (UME) managing field operations. While the national emergency is only declared for fires in the Madrid and Avila area, other blazes remain active across the country.
“Very adverse meteorological conditions are expected for tomorrow,” Madrid region president Isabel Díaz Ayuso wrote in a post on X on Thursday evening. “It is necessary to reinforce national and even international support to these fires.”
Extremely high temperatures are making it harder to extinguish the fires. The third heat wave of the season is bringing 40C (104F) temperatures across central Spain and yellow, red and amber alerts throughout the country’s central and eastern provinces, according to meteorological agency Aemet.
Last week was the worst for wildfires across Spain this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. A total of 124,969 hectares have burnt in the country so far in 2026, more than three times the average for the past two decades. The fires around Madrid are some of the country’s most critical, after one in Guadalajara which has burnt more than 32,000 hectares.
A cloud of smoke from the fires is seen crossing the Iberian Peninsula due to winds, according to a satellite image shared by Aemet on X.
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