Arantxa Alcázar stepped into her garden on Thursday when she heard police officers shouting at residents to evacuate their homes in Villa del Prado, a town west of Madrid. The blazes that had been raging in the distant mountains were now sweeping down their street.“Like a river of fire,” she said.She fled with her mother, Consuelo Lorza (88), and her 11-year-old daughter Sara to another town, only to have to evacuate again hours later to a nearby village. The following day, they were forced to flee once more, this time to the town of Villamanta.“I’ve been sleeping here for three days — if you can call that sleep,” Lorza said on Sunday morning. She shared a bunk with her granddaughter, while Alcázar spent the night in her car with the family dog. They eventually found out that Alcázar’s home had been spared.More than 200 people were staying on makeshift bunks inside a sports hall in Villamanta on Sunday, anxiously waiting to learn whether they would be allowed to return home or whether the flames were advancing toward them. Some tried to nap after lunch while children kicked a football around.People eat and sleep at an evacuation centre in Villamanta, Spain, on Sunday as thousands have evacuated their homes to avoid the advancing flames. Photograph: Joseph Fox/The New York Times