At least 12 people have died in a wildfire that broke out on July 9, 2026 in open country near the town of Los Gallardos, in Almería province in the autonomous community of Andalusia, southeast Spain.
Andalusia’s 112 emergency service confirmed the toll, which more than doubled an earlier count of six deaths recorded in a hamlet of the neighbouring municipality of Bédar. Some of the dead were found inside their vehicles.
Antonio Sanz, the Andalusian regional government’s minister for health, presidency and emergencies, described the blaze as the most damaging in the region to date and called it an unprecedented tragedy, according to a statement issued by the regional executive and reported by Europa Press.
He said Andalusia was in mourning and offered condolences to the families of those killed.
Authorities raised the response to emergency phase, operational situation 2, as conditions worsened. Sanz said on X that 150 personnel from Infoca, the Andalusian forest firefighting service, were tackling the flames with the support of five fire engines.
The regional emergency coordination centre also mobilised Infoca’s provincial operations centre, firefighters, the Guardia Civil, the National Police unit attached to the region, the Andalusian Emergency Group and the local electricity supplier.
Troops from the Second Intervention Battalion of the Military Emergencies Unit have left their base at Morón, in Seville province, and were heading for Almería.
Infoca said gusts of wind were reaching 70 kilometres per hour, hampering efforts to contain the fire. The terrain is esparto grassland and unusually dry.
Sanz urged residents to keep away from the area and to follow instructions from the emergency services.
Juanma Moreno, president of the Andalusian regional government, pointed to the complexity of the operation and asked the public for maximum caution overnight in a post on social media.
Residents of the Almocáizar, Fuente del Albarico, Los Pinos and La Serena districts have been evacuated, along with homes in the Pinar area of nearby Bédar.
A woman suffered burns there and was taken to Torrecárdenas hospital in Almería. Another person was admitted to the same hospital with smoke inhalation.
Four more people were treated at the scene for respiratory problems and minor burns.
The A-7 motorway remained closed between kilometres 709 and 714 in the eastbound direction, along with a stretch of the N-340A road close to the fire.
The 112 service handled more than 150 calls from members of the public alerting it to the blaze. The earliest reports placed the flames at kilometre 511 of the N-340A and attributed them to a fallen power cable.
