ALMERÍA, July 12 — The catastrophic wildfire that tore through southern Spain’s Almería province has claimed at least 12 lives, with 23 people still unaccounted for, regional authorities confirmed over the weekend, marking it as the deadliest blaze in Andalusia’s modern history.
The fire, which ignited on Thursday afternoon near the municipality of Los Gallardos, was driven by 50 km/h gusts and an intense Iberian heatwave, spreading roughly 15 kilometres in just two hours. By Sunday, the scorched earth had expanded to an estimated 6,600 hectares, engulfing the neighbouring communities of Bédar and Antas.
Among the deceased are four suspected British nationals, whose bodies were discovered inside a right-hand-drive vehicle, alongside eight others who perished after abandoning their cars to flee on foot through rugged, semi-arid terrain. Rescue workers have recovered walking sticks from the burn area, suggesting hikers were caught off-guard by the fire’s unprecedented speed, which officials described as spreading “like gunpowder.”
As the immediate life-saving phase transitions into recovery and investigation, attention has turned to the blaze’s origin. Investigators are examining a fallen overhead power cable next to a rural road as the primary ignition source. However, a spokesperson for the utility company Endesa has contested this narrative, and regional officials maintain that the cause remains formally unestablished pending a comprehensive forensic inquiry.
The emergency response has been massive but severely hampered by steep topography. Roughly 150 Infoca firefighters and 200 personnel from Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME) have been battling the flames, supported by 17 aircraft. Meanwhile, the humanitarian toll continues to mount: eight people remain hospitalized, with the most severely burned patients being transferred to specialized burn units at Seville’s Virgen del Rocío Hospital. A family assistance centre in Garrucha is currently processing DNA samples to formally identify the victims, while thousands of evacuees remain in temporary shelters across Lubrín and Garrucha.
The tragedy has reignited fierce debate over Spain’s vulnerability to extreme weather. The blaze coincides with a severe heatwave gripping the Iberian Peninsula and southern France, with temperatures peaking near 40 degrees Celsius. According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), Spain suffered devastating burn scars in 2025, and the government had already mobilized what it called its largest-ever summer wildfire response for 2026.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, alongside Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, have expressed profound condolences, while Andalusian President Juan Manuel Moreno has vowed a full review of evacuation protocols, acknowledging that some victims died on routes not included in official emergency plans.
As containment lines slowly solidify this weekend, the focus in Almería shifts from the immediate horror of the firestorm to the grueling task of identifying the missing, supporting the displaced, and uncovering how a rural spark became a national tragedy.
