Spain ends national emergency for wildfires near Madrid

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MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday lifted the state of emergency over wildfires west of Madrid that forced the evacuations of tens of thousands of people.

Authorities said the fires in the Madrid and Avila areas had stopped spreading and there are "almost no flames", a week after the emergency was declared, mobilising a national firefighting effort.

"We decided to accept the proposal to switch to operational level 2 and end the national state of emergency," Sanchez told reporters after meeting with regional officials on the blazes.

Residents smother embers with dirt to prevent reignition after a wildfire was brought under control near La Adrada, 95 kilometres west of Madrid, on July 28, 2026. (Photo by Oscar DEL POZO / AFP)

The prefecture of the Madrid region said earlier in a statement that "night-time weather conditions have made it possible... to cool the area and reinforce the perimeter, which is clearly stabilised, with no spread for several days, few smoking spots and almost no flames left."

There were no longer any "active fronts," it said, adding that only around a thousand people remained evacuated.

But authorities warned that the ongoing heatwave threatened a resurgence of fire in the Madrid region.

The Madrid and Avila fires have jointly consumed at least 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres).

"The meteorological risk of fire remains very high, even extreme in some areas," the Madrid regional authority said.

"Efforts will focus on maintaining the stability of the perimeter, monitoring for new outbreaks and cooling hot spots."

The most critical area in the Madrid region fires on Thursday morning was the area near the San Juan reservoir, about 60 kilometres from the centre of the capital, where two towns remained evacuated.

New fire in west

A new wildfire fire meanwhile broke out on Wednesday near Spain's border with Portugal, forcing the evacuation of more than 600 people, emergency services said.

A total of 11 areas were evacuated in the Fermoselle area, and residents of two others were ordered to shelter in place, the services said.

Authorities did not state the area burned, but several roads were closed.

Spain's Military Emergency Unit (UME) was deployed to the Level 2 fire -- a classification that triggers extra support from the central government.

A flock of sheep searches for food on a scorched pasture following a wildfire near Piedralaves, 100 kilometres west of Madrid, on July 28, 2026. (Photo by Oscar DEL POZO / AFP)

Two other Level 2 fires — at Val de la Loba and San Cipriano del Condado — were active in the same Zamora province.

The area is located in the Castile and Leon region, which has already been hit by the largest fire in Spanish history since record-keeping began.

That fire in Avila province, which is still ongoing, has burned approximately 50,000 hectares of land.