Spanish ecological transition minister Sara Aagesen confirmed on Sunday that approximately 77,000 hectares have been consumed by wildfires across the country, with the blaze in the Ávila region marking the largest recorded in recent national history.
The fire has prompted the evacuation of over 90,000 residents from surrounding areas, including 50-year-old Olga Congacha, who was forced to abandon her village of Robledo de Chavela west of Madrid.
Congacha described feeling “panicked” during her sudden evacuation, stating, “I didn’t know whether to cry or what. It was a moment when you feel awful.”
Upon returning briefly on Sunday to retrieve medication, she found her neighborhood eerily deserted, with ash coating the streets and rooftops of her damaged home.
While authorities report strong winds are directing the fires away from Madrid, they have intensified evacuation efforts in neighboring villages along the capital’s southern flank.
