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Spain late Thursday declared a national emergency encompassing both the Madrid region and the neighboring province of Avila as multiple out-of-control wildfires continue to burn simultaneously.
The measure, announced by the interior ministry, is designed to accelerate the deployment of firefighting resources to combat the blazes. The decree shifts control of the crisis response directly into the hands of a specialized military emergency unit.
The rapidly spreading forest fires have triggered a severe humanitarian impact across the area. In total, more than 10,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes in recent days from communities scattered across the hard-hit Madrid region.
Spanish authorities sent evacuation messages early Thursday to 3,500 people in Aldea de Fresno, about 60 kilometers (38 miles) from Madrid.
The fire that broke out Thursday in Avila is spreading out of control, and residents in the municipalities of Burgohondo, El Tiemblo and Navaluenga have been ordered to stay indoors, according to Spanish media reports.
In addition, 1,500 people have been evacuated from a rural tourism complex and a housing development in El Tiemblo because of the rapid advance of the flames, the Spanish newspaper El Pais said.
The largest fire is on the other side of Madrid, in the province of Guadalajara, about 100 kilometers north of the capital, and has devastated 32,000 hectares (80,000 acres) since last Thursday.
"The government has deployed every available resource to stop the terrible fires currently affecting numerous areas: Avila, Leon, Toledo, Madrid and other parts of Spain," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said earlier on X, urging the public to exercise "great caution" and heed instructions from authorities.
Almost 125,000 hectares have already burnt in Spain this year compared with 393,000 for the whole of last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), an agency that tracks wildfire data across Europe.
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