Wildfires west of Madrid burn 40,000 hectares, force evacuation of 90,000

Just an hour's drive west of Madrid, massive wildfires are devastating recreational areas with forests and lakes. As soon as the wind shifts, new villages are at risk.

26 July 2026 | 8:00 PM

Fighting the flames in San Martin de Valdeiglesias west of Madrid, Sunday, July 26. Photo: Manu Fernandez/ap

From Madrid — Reiner Wandler

Pico Casillas, the mountain with its 1,768 meters, where I often sat and let my gaze wander into the distance – burned down. The centuries-old chestnut grove at the foot of the mountain, in the valley towards El Tiemblo – burned down. The Iruelas Valley, a nature reserve with deciduous forests and a small stream, home to one of Spain's most important vulture colonies – burned down. Houses along the Burguillo reservoir – burned down. The two campsites, one in the Iruelas Valley, the other opposite directly on the water – burned down. Only a few poles from awnings and a few sheet metal roofs of the mobile homes bear witness there to the former holiday and weekend paradise.

Here, an hour's drive west of the Spanish capital, where on the Río Alberche the two mountain ranges Sierra de Guadarrama – popularly called Sierra de Madrid – and Gredos join hands, lies the epicenter of the largest fire disaster that the wooded mountainous area between the provinces of Madrid, Avila, and Toledo has ever seen.

Over 40,000 hectares have been burned, half of which is forest. Nature and livestock farming have given way to a black, dusty desert. 90,000 people have been evacuated.

The videos that the tenant of the two campsites published online went on television. One recording shows what was our second home for eleven years: a sheet metal roof, the housing of the air conditioning unit, a charred wooden post, a grill, and three gas bottles. "We are devastated," the young family who had taken over our little house full of enthusiasm for life by the lake writes to us.

Strong Winds Fan the Flames

On Sunday, emergency services were still fighting to contain the fire on all flanks. Strong winds repeatedly make this impossible. As soon as the wind shifts, the flames target villages that were previously considered safe. Even 30 kilometers away, where we now live, people don't really feel safe, because the fire has traveled dozens of kilometers in recent days. In one spot, three kilometers in just 40 minutes.

It rained a lot in winter and spring. The vegetation grew quickly and lushly. Since then it has been dry, far too dry. A single spark is enough to start a fire that soon becomes completely uncontrollable. This happened, for example, on the upper reaches of the Río Alberche, in the popular holiday village of Burgohondo with its old buildings and a stone bridge over the river.

Here, one of the three main fires originated, which have now almost merged into one. Despite a strict ban, a young man, now arrested, was working with heavy agricultural machinery and struck sparks. The valley was in flames in a flash.

In the village, it is said that the worker was known as a climate change denier and a sympathizer of the far-right VOX party. That would not be surprising. Because in another major fire in central Spain, it was a VOX mayor who disregarded the ban on harvesting with combine harvesters. A spark – and 32,000 hectares of burned mountains and meadows remained. The fire has still not been extinguished two weeks later.

35 kilometers further east, down the river, in San Martín de Valdeiglesias in the province of Madrid, a car caught fire just before the entrance to the town. Police officers at the roundabout and the fire brigade arrived quickly, but not quickly enough. The flames in the vegetation were already meters high. The fire spread at great speed.

20 kilometers further south in Almorox, in the province of Toledo, it was already burning there and the first residential areas, idyllically located in the forest, mostly owned by nature-loving capital city dwellers, had to be evacuated.