Madrid skyscraper fire contained after emergency evacuation, no injuries

Smoke poured through the middle floors of Torre Moeve and forced a full evacuation of the 49-storey tower in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres Business Area, but police said the fire was brought under control and no one was injured. The blaze hit one of the capital’s most prominent office buildings, turning a routine weekday into an emergency for workers inside the city’s financial district.

Torre Moeve, formerly known as Torre Cepsa and Torre Foster, was renamed in 2024 and stands 248 metres tall. Tourism Madrid describes it as the second tallest building in Spain, behind Torre de Cristal, with 49 floors used entirely as office space. Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the tower houses the energy company Moeve and sits among the high-rises that define Madrid’s northern business corridor.

The evacuation unfolded quickly but in scenes that witnesses described as chaotic. One person said she saw smoke and smelled fumes before the alarm sounded. Another witness said people inside had to walk down 34 floors to get out. The fire appeared to have started around 5 p.m. local time on the middle floors, and images from the scene showed smoke rising from several levels in the center of the building.

The incident briefly snarled the surrounding area as emergency services responded and traffic was disrupted near the tower. Even with no casualties, the episode exposed the pressure points in high-rise safety: smoke spreading through a large office tower, the timing of alarm systems, and the speed with which hundreds of people can be moved down dozens of floors under stress. For a building that anchors one of Madrid’s most visible business districts, the fire was contained before it became a worse disaster, but it still tested how ready a modern financial-center tower is when a localized blaze turns into a building-wide evacuation.