Spanish PM says priority is to 'save lives' as fires burnt 25,000 hectares west of Madrid

An aerial picture taken in the morning of July 25, 2026 shows the burnt landscape amid a wildfire in Fresnedillas area, near El Escorial, 60 kms northwest of Madrid. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday, July 25, the priority in tackling the wildfires raging west of Madrid was to "save lives", warning that a "complex" fight lay ahead. "Our priority, our thinking, our aim is for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas," Sanchez told reporters in a village in the fire zone. "We are going to have some complex hours ahead because, although the temperatures have gone down, we do not know exactly how the wind will develop, how strong it will be."

Wildfires raging west of Madrid have burned up to 25,000 hectares, the Spanish interior ministry said Saturday. Flames have ravaged nearly 10,000 hectares in the Madrid region and "between 13,000 and 15,000" in the neighboring province of Avila, the ministry said in a message sent to journalists. The total is more than twice the surface area of the city of Paris.

On Saturday, another 10,000 people have been evacuated in the area, bringing the total to more than 45,000, the interior ministry said, adding in a statement that fires in Avila forced the evacuation of seven more villages.