Spain wildfire kills 12 in Almeria after some ignored shelter orders

Beja,UPDATED: Jul 11, 2026 18:26 IST

Hundreds of firefighters, backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, were battling one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires on Saturday, as the blaze in Almeria province killed at least 12 people and burned through about 66 sq km of forest and farmland.

Authorities said lighter winds and higher humidity were helping crews, but the scale of the fire remained a major challenge. The wildfire broke out late on Thursday near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains, as Spain endured intense heat, and forced the evacuation of 1,448 people from around 11 areas.

Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia’s emergency services, said fire crews carried out controlled burns overnight around the fire’s perimeter. He said the sheer size of the blaze was still making containment difficult.

Authorities said most of the victims, believed to be foreign nationals, died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions. Seven people died on foot after leaving their cars. Regional authorities said four of the dead were believed to be British because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as in British vehicles. Sanz said autopsies had been completed and DNA samples collected to identify the victims.

Jeffrey and Christine Kember were watching a favourite television show in their Los Pinos farmhouse when a siren alerted them to the fire. Jeffrey Kember said that when they saw the flames approaching, he and his wife got into separate cars while also trying to help a neighbour with two toddlers.

He said the couple became separated and he could not speak to his wife because she did not have a phone with her. “I’m driving through the flames. It was actually flames. I thought, I can’t stop, I just gotta go,” Jeffrey Kember told The Associated Press, with his wife beside him outside an evacuation centre. “It was eerie because all of a sudden I came out of the flames and it was all bright sunshine. It was like surreal. Ridiculous!”

Spanish authorities also arrested two people for ignoring evacuation orders and returning to a high-risk area, according to Spain’s official EFE news agency. Authorities were still searching the Bedar area for any other victims.

Justice Minister Felix Bolanos said on Saturday that the ferocity of the Almeria wildfire was due to a “climate emergency”. He said that at its most intense, the fire advanced as fast as 100 metres per minute.

Spain has faced frequent and severe heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures often crossing 40 degrees Celsius. Wind, high temperatures and low rainfall can turn small fires into major blazes. In June, Spain saw several days of record heat, with more than 1,000 excess deaths.

Across Europe, the pressure from heat and wildfires has continued. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has said Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising at twice the global average since the 1980s. Parts of Western Europe were facing their third heatwave in six weeks, while 2025 was the third-hottest year on record globally.

Several wildfires were also active across France on Saturday as temperatures climbed. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 32 people had been arrested across the country since the start of the summer in connection with wildfires. “Those unacceptable acts, which have disastrous consequences and mobilise our firefighters at the risk of their lives, now fall into the hands of the justice system,” he said. “We will continue our determined action and will not let anything slide.” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X that nine out of 10 wildfires start because of human activity. More than 25,000 hectares of land have burned in France since the start of 2026, about double the area seen in the same period last year. France is in the peak of its third heatwave this summer, with temperatures touching 40 C in western and central areas and around 37 C in Paris. Last month was France’s hottest June on record, and deaths rose by nearly a third during the hottest week.

Spain is no stranger to wildfires. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, last year’s fire season burned more than 393,000 hectares, an area twice the size of London, and killed four people. Spain’s deadliest wildfire was in 1979, when 21 people died in Lloret de Mar. In neighbouring Portugal, a 2017 wildfire killed 66 people in Pedrogao Grande, including 47 who died on one road while trying to flee in their cars. The latest blaze in Almeria has again underlined the deadly risks posed by fast-moving fires during extreme heat.

With PTI Inputs

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