Villaviciosa de Odon (Spain) (AFP) – Elvira Menendez slept little last night. Her local municipal gym is nothing like home.
Issued on: 25/07/2026 - 21:08
3 min Reading time
"There are dogs here, people snoring," says the resident of the village of Chapineria, evacuated on Friday to escape to the out-of-control fire west of Madrid.Like some 200 other people, she found refuge in this large gymnasium in Villaviciosa de Odon, 30 kilometres (19 miles) from her home in the capital's suburbs.Even tens of kilometres away from the blaze ravaging the Madrid countryside, the sky remained hazy with smoke Saturday morning before the winds cleared the air.The historic El Escorial monastery -- a major tourist attraction -- was shrouded in a grayish, smoke-filled mist.The fire has "surpassed all possible and imaginable limits," said Mar Nicolas, mayor of the nearby small town of Brunete, which is hosting around a hundred evacuees.
Volunteers are taking care of those evacuated to the gymnasium © JAVIER SORIANO / AFP
