Worst wildfire in Madrid's history forces thousands to flee homes

The worst wildfire in the Madrid region's history raged west of the Spanish capital on Friday, with around 40,000 people evacuated or ordered to remain indoors.

Strong winds and scorching temperatures hampered efforts to contain the flames, which had destroyed dozens of homes and forced the closure of several roads, officials said.

Forecast winds are expected to ease somewhat overnight, which should improve firefighting conditions, but was unlikely to be enough to bring the wildfire under control given its size, they added.

"The wildfire is at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain," Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government's emergency management chief, told reporters.

Two separate wind-fuelled wildfires had combined to become one huge blaze on Friday, which was close to merging with yet another in the neighbouring Castilla y Leon region, they added.

Spanish authorities on Friday ordered the evacuation of 7,000 more people from two new localities west of Madrid threatened by wildfires.

Emergency messages were sent to the phones of people in the two villages affected. 

The evacuations come on top of 19,000 people in the Madrid region already told to leave their villages or remain indoors with windows and doors sealed. 

Traffic built up on the narrow roads near Zarzalejo, a village of about 2,000 residents, as people evacuated with cars carrying families and whatever possessions they had managed to gather, according to AFP reporter at the scene.

One family had brought a cage of pet birds. In the distance, flames were visible on the mountainside, partly obscured by dense smoke rising from the wildfire.

Spain's Guardia Civil police force said they had arrested a man for allegedly setting off the fire in the Madrid region by using a farm vehicle despite a ban in the tinderbox conditions. 

Another person is under investigation for the same incident.

The head of the regional government of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, said it was the worst wildfire in the region's history.

"The situation is completely unusual and catastrophic," she said, adding that the priority was "to save lives".

The blaze has so far burned around 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) in the Madrid region, an area with a high concentration of homes.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will on Saturday attend an emergency meeting in Cenicientos in the affected area, the government said.

"We are living through a dramatic situation, not only in various Spanish provinces but also in regions of neighbouring countries," he wrote earlier on X.

Spain's government declared a national emergency in the Madrid region and neighbouring Avila province late Thursday, allowing additional resources to be deployed more quickly and placing the Military Emergency Unit (UME) in charge of coordinating the response.

An AFP video journalist recorded people fleeing by road near Chapineria, some 30 kilometres from Madrid, including some on foot leading their horses and ponies.

Elsewhere, television images showed Guardia Civil police officers wearing face masks helping elderly residents in wheelchairs board buses as care homes were evacuated.

Spain has seen a series of blazes in recent days as a heatwave and dry conditions have heightened the risk of fast-moving fires, particularly in scrubland areas where dry vegetation has fuelled the flames.

The country's largest active wildfire in the province of Guadalajara, around 100 kilometres north of Madrid, has been contained after ravaging about 32,000 hectares over the past week, officials said.

Spain recorded its worst wildfire season in recent history in 2025, when more than 393,000 hectares were destroyed by fire, according to EFFIS.