{"id":544648,"date":"2026-07-11T15:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544648\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T15:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T15:35:10","slug":"spanish-firefighters-struggle-to-contain-deadly-wildfires-as-more-villages-evacuated-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544648\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish firefighters struggle to contain deadly wildfires as more villages evacuated \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of firefighters backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft struggled on Saturday to contain one of Spain\u2019s <\/a>deadliest wildfires, which has killed at least 12 people.<\/p>\n

A combination of light winds and high humidity are helping crews but the sheer size of the fire still poses challenges, Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia\u2019s emergency services, said.<\/p>\n

Antonio Sanz, head of emergencies in the Andalusia region, said fire crews carried out controlled burns overnight around the perimeter of the fire, which broke out late on Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierre de Los Filabres mountains in Almeria province, just as Spain was sizzling.<\/p>\n

Fanned by winds, the fire spread rapidly on \u200bFriday, engulfing victims as they tried to flee. Autopsies have been conducted on all 12 bodies recovered from close to the forested district of B\u00e9dar north of Los Gallardos where the fire broke out, though the victims\u2019 identities are yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Wildfire in southern Spain leaves 12 dead, burning across thousands of hectaresOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Sanz told reporters at the emergency zone \u200bcordon that the wildfire remained \u201ccomplex\u201d and continued to advance, but applauded firefighters\u2019 work in stopping it from crossing the highway towards the more heavily populated coastal towns.<\/p>\n

\"DamagedDamaged road signs and a burnt landscape after a wildfire near the municipality of B\u00e9dar. Photograph: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Most of those killed are thought to be British and Belgian nationals, along with one Spaniard. Eight people were injured in the fire, four of them severely, and remain in hospital in Seville.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has \u2060been identified yet, nor is it possible at this time \u200bto determine the age or sex of the deceased,\u201d the Institute of \u200bForensic Medicine in Almer\u00eda said in a statement late on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe view of a burnt landscape after a wildfire near the municipality of B\u00e9dar. Photograph: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

It said samples had been transferred to Madrid for further analysis and comparison with \u200cDNA samples provided by families.<\/p>\n

Authorities have played down \u200bthe likelihood of a major increase in the death toll, saying the number of people formally reported by families as missing was \u2060seven, compared with 23 that had been reported informally by \u2060Friday.<\/p>\n

More than 1,400 people had been evacuated by late Friday as the wildfire continued to burn near Los Gallardos, with precautionary evacuations in several communities around B\u00e9dar.<\/p>\n

More than 500 firefighters and emergency workers are involved in the firefighting effort, including regional firefighters and soldiers, and 19 specialists from a national firefighting brigade.<\/p>\n

Emergency officials said crews were concentrating their efforts on the western flank of the blaze where the fire remains most intense and is spreading fastest. So far, 6,600 hectares have been burned by the fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe night has passed relatively well, within the complexity and dimensions of the fire. The fronts have remained less active and no new \u200cdirect threats to inhabited areas have \u2060occurred,\u201d said Sanz.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, those confronted by the fire on Friday told of their horror at how fast it spread \u2014 at one stage covering 15km in two hours, according to the regional president.<\/p>\n

\"FlamesFlames stretching along a hillside on Saturday. Photograph: Jorge Guerreo\/AFP via Getty Images \"AA damaged house is seen in an area affected by a wildfire near Bedar on Friday. Photograph: Jose Jordan\/ AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

The parish priest of B\u00e9dar and Los \u200cGallardos, V\u00edctor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez, said he had gone to a neighbouring village to celebrate Mass. \u201cYou could see smoke but far away, in a corner of the municipality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI \u200bfigured they would put it out because our firefighters always react very rapidly. But when we \u200bcame out of the Mass there was a cloud of black smoke and looking up at the mountains, the flames were devouring everything. It was a matter of minutes.\u201d – Reuters, PA Media <\/p>\n

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of firefighters backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft struggled on Saturday to contain one of Spain\u2019s deadliest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,2846,40,38,41,39,18335],"class_list":["post-544648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-weather-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}