Facing the uncontrolled spread of wildfires, the Spanish government declared a “state of emergency of national interest” on Thursday evening through Friday in the Madrid region and the province of Ávila, near the capital. The measure allows the state to mobilize additional resources and strengthen firefighting efforts.
The decision, announced by the Ministry of the Interior, aims to rapidly coordinate and deploy resources to combat the fires, which have forced the evacuation of around 10,000 people in Madrid. The management of the crisis has been assigned to the Military Emergency Unit (UME).
Earlier on Thursday, approximately 3,500 residents of a municipality located about 60 kilometers west of Madrid left their homes as a precautionary measure due to the spread of a forest fire.
In an update shared on the platform X, authorities said they had sent emergency alerts to residents’ mobile phones in Aldea del Fresno, instructing them to evacuate the area and move to another municipality to avoid the danger posed by the nearby wildfire that was spreading out of control.
