{"id":16924,"date":"2026-07-12T07:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=16924"},"modified":"2026-07-12T07:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T07:58:11","slug":"hundreds-of-firefighters-in-spain-battle-deadly-wildfires-that-killed-at-least-12-fleeing-flames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=16924","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of firefighters in Spain battle deadly wildfires that killed at least 12 fleeing flames"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

At least 12 people are dead as hundreds of firefighters backed by helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft struggled Saturday to contain one of Spain’s deadliest wildfires<\/span>.<\/p>\n

A combination of light winds and high humidity are helping crews, but the sheer size of the fire still poses challenges, Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia’s emergency services, said. The fire has scorched some 25 square miles of forest and farmland, about the size of Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Sanz said fire crews carried out controlled burns overnight around the perimeter of the fire, which broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains in Almeria province, just as Spain was sizzling under a high temperature warning.<\/p>\n

Most of the victims, who are believed to be foreign nationals, died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, authorities said. Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars.<\/p>\n

\n

\"SPAIN-FIRE-EMERGENCY<\/span>

\n

A picture taken on July 10, 2026 shows a helicopter dropping water in the area of a wildfire in Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

JOSE JORDAN \/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four of the dead were believed to be British because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said.<\/p>\n

Authorities had completed autopsies and DNA samples were collected to identify them, Sanz said Saturday. Authorities proactively evacuated 1,448 people from some 11 areas.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey and Christine Kember were watching a favorite TV show in their Los Pinos farmhouse when the blare of a siren alerted them to the fire. Jeffrey Kember said he and his wife jumped into their respective cars at the sight of the advancing flames while also trying to help a neighbor with two toddlers.<\/p>\n

He described how the couple briefly got separated and how he was unable to speak to his wife because she didn’t have a phone on her.<\/p>\n

“I’m driving through the flames. It was actually flames. I thought, ‘I can’t stop, I just gotta go,'” Jeffrey Kember told The Associated Press, with his wife next to him outside an evacuation center.<\/p>\n

“It was eerie because all of a sudden I came out of the flames and it was all bright sunshine. It was like surreal. Ridiculous!”<\/p>\n

\n

\"Spain<\/span>

\n

This image made from video provided by INFOCA shows firefighters battling a wildfire in Los Gallardos, near Almeria, Spain.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

INFOCA via AP<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spain has battled frequent and severe heat waves<\/span>\u00a0in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind, high temperatures and little rainfall help small wildfires grow into unchecked blazes.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister F\u00e9lix Bola\u00f1os on Saturday attributed the ferocity of the Almeira wildfire to a “climate emergency.” He said the fire, at its most intense, advanced as fast as 328 feet per minute.<\/p>\n

In June, Spain experienced several days of record-setting heat, with over 1,000 excess deaths.<\/p>\n

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Parts of Western Europe are facing their third heat wave in six weeks. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year<\/span> on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.<\/p>\n

Spain is no stranger to wildfires<\/span>, with last year’s fire season burning more than 971,000 acres, according to the European Forest Fire Information System, an area twice as large as London. Four people died.<\/p>\n

Spain’s deadliest wildfire was in 1979, when 21 people perished in Lloret de Mar, a coastal town about an hour north of Barcelona.<\/p>\n

\n<\/section>\n

<\/p>\n