Deadly Spain wildfire kills 12, forces mass evacuation in Andalusia

Holidaymakers in a pool in Bédar said they had only minutes to move after neighbours warned them of an evacuation notice, watching the scene shift from a slight haze to black smoke to flames in about 15 minutes. The fire tore through the Los Gallardos area of Almería province in Andalusia, and authorities said at least 12 people had died, 8 others were injured and 23 remained missing.

Around 800 people were evacuated from rural villages and expat communities near Los Gallardos and Bédar, including nearly 200 sent to temporary shelters. About 500 firefighters, backed by Spain’s Military Emergency Unit, fought the blaze and searched for victims across steep terrain that forced crews into difficult access routes as night fell.

Officials said the majority of the victims were believed to be foreign nationals, and reports indicated that British nationals were among those feared dead. Spanish authorities said the fire spread with alarming speed through a landscape of hills and scattered settlements, where some people tried to escape on tracks other than the official evacuation route. Investigators were also examining whether a fallen power line cable may have sparked the blaze.

The wildfire broke out on Thursday afternoon, July 9, 2026, and by the following day it had become one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires and the deadliest in Andalusia’s history. Juan Manuel Moreno, Andalusia’s regional president, has been facing a disaster that has quickly become as much a test of evacuation planning as of firefighting capacity, with the Spanish Civil Guard also involved as crews tried to account for the missing.

The fire has put a sharp spotlight on how fast wildfire risk is overtaking public expectations in southern Europe, especially in places built around tourism and second homes. In Bédar and nearby Mojácar, where holidaymakers and foreign residents are common, the warning came from neighbours and not from a visible wall of fire, leaving little time to judge how fast the escape window was closing.