{"id":840802,"date":"2026-08-03T00:20:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T00:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840802\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T00:20:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T00:20:30","slug":"daughter-of-british-couple-killed-in-spanish-wildfire-rejects-claim-they-ignored-order-to-leave-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840802\/","title":{"rendered":"Daughter of British couple killed in Spanish wildfire rejects claim they ignored order to leave | Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bereaved daughter of a British couple who died in a Spanish wildfire is calling on the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband<\/a>, to get answers from Spain\u2019s government about why her parents were not told to evacuate until it was too late.<\/p>\n

Severe wildfires have burned across Spain and France<\/a> since early July, killing people, destroying thousands of homes and forcing more than 300,000 people to flee.<\/p>\n

Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in B\u00e9dar in Almer\u00eda, died in mid-July while fleeing their home as a wildfire tore through the village. They were among 13 people killed in the fires<\/a>, many of whom died in their cars as they tried to escape.<\/p>\n

Pete and Fran Gillam. Danielle said a lone police officer was \u2018frantically driving from house to house\u2019 to tell people in the village to evacuate. Photograph: Facebook<\/p>\n

Danielle Kirton, 42, an assistant headteacher from Nottinghamshire, has spent the weeks since her parents died looking for answers. She knows her mother would have followed official advice had she have been given it.<\/p>\n

Though the fire alert came at 4.30pm, the evacuation order did not come until more than three hours later. Kirton said this was delivered by a lone police officer, who was \u201cfrantically driving from house to house\u201d and Spain\u2019s official emergency alert system, which plays a loud noise on mobile phones and tells people to evacuate, was not used.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother sent me a video at 6.45pm showing the fire a considerable way away from the hill where they live,\u201d Kirton said. \u201cShe didn\u2019t sound worried or concerned. I kept in contact with her and she sent me a message saying at 7.53pm that they\u2019d evacuated.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the decision to evacuate was made tragically late. \u201cThey stopped at a neighbour\u2019s driveway to shout to a neighbour they needed to evacuate, but then they became trapped as the fire had jumped on both sides of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remains of cars in B\u00e9dar. Many of the 13 killed in the fire died in their vehicles as they tried to flee. Photograph: Atlas\/Reuters<\/p>\n

There are now other wildfires burning in much of Spain and south-west France, but there have been no civilian casualties so far. In the small village where her parents lived, 13 people died. \u201cIt would appear that somewhere within that system there has been a failure. If you look at the subsequent wildfires in Spain, there have been no casualties and the biggest difference is the emergency alert was used in subsequent wildfires,\u201d Kirton said.<\/p>\n

She said her mother loved living in B\u00e9dar and as a retired headteacher took much joy in organising quiz nights to fundraise for the local school. She had a bag packed and she was ready to evacuate. \u201cShe was just waiting to be told what to do,\u201d Kirton said.<\/p>\n

The aftermath of the wildfire in B\u00e9dar. Thirteen people died when the fire tore through the village. Photograph: Gregorio Marrero\/AP<\/p>\n

Spanish politicians have claimed that those who died ignored instructions. \u201cMy parents did not ignore instructions. My parents would have not had an issue with instructions in Spanish,\u201d Kirton said. \u201cMy parents heeded advice to shelter in place, until they were then told that they needed to evacuate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took the correct route, and their only route, to the evacuation point. It is a weak and cowardly act to blame victims in the face of tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response from the Foreign Office has been a \u201cslap in the face\u201d, she added. \u201cThe help from the consulate has been nonexistent. We got sent a link: \u2018What to do when someone dies abroad.\u2019 That is it. It is a slap in the face, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miliband has been visiting France and Spain to discuss wildfires and the climate crisis with political leaders. Kirton said: \u201cAs UK citizens, it is important to ask for his support in asking Spanish authorities to conduct a full and thorough investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NatalieDanielle Kirton, right, with her dad, Pete, and her sister, Natalie. Kirton said the UK Foreign Office\u2019s response to her parents\u2019 death has been a \u2018slap in the face\u2019. Photograph: Danielle Kirton<\/p>\n

Scientists say the fires have been worsened by the climate crisis<\/a>, which has intensified the recent heatwaves. Kirton said this makes it more crucial that lessons are learned so no one has to go through what she has.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s vital for planning for the future that we see what exactly were the contributing factors in this case,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect storm, the weather, the climate, the vegetation, the wind. My parents weren\u2019t concerned before \u2013 it isn\u2019t something they felt fearful of, it wasn\u2019t something that happened where they lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kirton has been working every day since her parents died trying to get answers and a substantial response from the Spanish authorities. She said: \u201cMy mum and dad would have always spoken up for what\u2019s right and if I can do anything for them it\u2019s that we can ask for the truth and ensure this never happens again to any other families.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Andalusian government has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

A Foreign Office spokesperson said that any investigation into the fire response is a matter for the Spanish government: \u201cThe foreign secretary has been in regular contact with his Spanish counterpart, including during his visit to Madrid on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey discussed how the UK could support Spain\u2019s response, ensure British nationals receive the right advice and assistance, and agreed that lessons must be learned as climate change makes these dangerous wildfires more likely.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaff at our embassy have been working with the British community in the affected area, collating their questions and concerns and raising them with the Spanish authorities. This work is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bereaved daughter of a British couple who died in a Spanish wildfire is calling on the foreign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-840802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}