Wildfire near Madrid kills one as fires burn across Spain

Firefighting teams in Spain have contained a wildfire near Madrid that killed one person and led to dozens of residents being evacuated, local authorities said on Tuesday.

About 180 people were evacuated from residential areas including Soto de Viñuelas and Fuente El Fresno in the Tres Cantos region, according to officials.

The blaze engulfed a housing complex in Soto de Viñuelas, with an as-of-yet unconfirmed number of homes destroyed.

One man in the housing estate died from his injuries after suffering burns on 98% of his body. He had been flowy by helicopter from the Tres Cantos region to a hospital in the capital, where he passed away, according to a statement by the Community of Madrid.

The Regional Minister for the Environment, Agriculture and the Interior of the Community of Madrid, Carlos Novillo Piris, said the fire advanced six kilometres in "just 40 minutes".

Local media reported that the fire also halted the flow of traffic on the M-607 between Madrid and the municipality of Colmenar Viejo, located to the north of the capital.

On Monday, authorities in the southern town of Tarifa, in Cádiz, ordered the preventive evacuation of some 2,000 people as forest fires advanced towards the region.

Wildfires have also brought havoc in northern Spain, where blazes threatened to destroy residential buildings in the towns of Molezuelas de Carballeda and Carucedo.

Spain is facing one of its worst summers for wildfires in recent history.

Massive blazes have engulfed tens of thousands of hectares and threatened UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Around 39,155 hectares have been burned between 1 January and 3 August this year in Spain — an area 9% larger than for the same period in 2024 — the government has said.