Andalusia wildfire kills 12, leaves 23 missing; fire spread at 100 meters per minute

At least 12 people have died in recent days from forest fires in Andalusia. In Spain, temperatures over 40 degrees are becoming increasingly common.

7/12/2026, 8:09 PM

Everything burnt out: devastating forest fires in Andalusia. Photo: Loyola Perez de Villegas Muniz / Reuters

From Madrid Reiner Wandler

Even the firefighters of the forest fire units had never seen anything like it. The fire in the Andalusian province of Almeria spread at up to 100 meters per minute, devouring everything in its path through the barren, rugged landscape full of scrub. The trigger was likely sparks from a fallen power line on Thursday towards evening between the small southern Spanish villages of Bedár and Los Gallardos. By Sunday, the fire was finally contained. By then, 7,000 hectares of forest had been devastated and at least 12 people had died. Twenty-three people are still missing. Since Sunday, volunteers and civil protection personnel have been searching for them where the terrain is accessible again.

Earlier, the municipal administration of Bedár had urged residents of the region to leave their homes and the area. Around 1,000 people were evacuated, but not all complied with the request. Many houses are scattered across the landscape and are owned by retirees from the rest of Europe spending their twilight years in southern Spain. Eleven of the 12 fatalities in Bedár and Los Gallardos are – according to preliminary information – foreigners, most likely from Great Britain. They fled far too late and were trapped by flames on field paths.

"Climate change is leading to increasingly complex situations, with fires like we have never seen before, many of them uncontrollable," explained the head of the Andalusian regional government, Juanma Moreno. The conservative, who governs in coalition with the far-right VOX, warns of further dangers from forest fires: Summer has only just begun.

15 Fires Per Day

In fact, an average of 15 fires per day are currently being recorded in Andalusia. Fortunately, the vast majority can be extinguished quickly. However, weather forecasts and medium-term predictions do not bode well for the coming weeks. In Spain these days, there is much talk of the 30-rule: more than 30 degrees, more than 30 kilometers per hour of wind speed, and humidity below 30 percent. Well over a third of all large forest fires occur precisely under these conditions. This is currently the case in large parts of Spain.

It is not only in Andalusia but everywhere in the country that fires are burning. NASA satellites counted 973 fire hotspots in Spain over the past 24 hours. Sixty-four municipalities in 30 of the 52 provinces are affected. Over 68,000 hectares – an area equivalent to three-quarters of Berlin – have already burned this year.

What the press and the weather office call the second major heatwave of this summer is actually something like the new summer reality, because between the waves it only cooled down for a few days and even then only slightly. Meanwhile, temperatures of over 40 degrees have even been measured on the northern Spanish Atlantic coast and its hinterland – the Basque Country, Cantabria, or Asturias. Normal here is 10 degrees less. Gone are the days when the northwest was considered a travel destination for heat-stricken people from the center and south of the country.

Forest fires are not the only consequence of the high temperatures. In the first nine days of July alone, 622 people died in Spain as a result of the heat; since May, the number is 1,683. Besides people who have to work outdoors despite the great heat, it is mainly older people, mostly in northern Spain, who are affected. Unlike in the south, they are not accustomed to temperatures in the high 30s or even over 40 degrees. The apartments, similar to those in Germany and France, are not prepared for the heat of this summer.

Companies are legally obligated to protect their employees from extreme temperatures.