When a wildfire swept through the mountain village of Bedar and a nearby hamlet in southern Spain on July 9, regional officials claimed afterward that some of the 12 people who died while trying to escape had been told to stay put and ignored that guidance.
But that account is disputed. Five residents and survivors who spoke with Reuters said they never received any guidance whatsoever, while two others who did get some kind of warning said it came through informal channels — church bells, WhatsApp group messages, and in-person visits from local officials — amounting to a disorganized, uneven effort.
Bob Layton, a retired technical manager originally from Britain, said no one warned him about the fire or told him what to do. He made the call himself to drive away, leaving just one minute before the flames consumed his home in Paraje el Curato, a hamlet roughly 2.5 kilometers from Bedar where most of the victims who died trying to flee had lived.
A thirteenth victim — a 93-year-old British woman — later died in a hospital from burn injuries.
“If I had received any advice to stay in my home we would have been dead — it was burned to the ground,” Layton said. “I knew the track to get out on, others attempted to take the same track, a slightly different route and didn’t survive. The fire became an inferno.”
The main village of Bedar was left untouched by the fire, while in Paraje el Curato some homes burned and others were spared. Eight of Layton’s neighbors died attempting to escape down a track after the primary road out was cut off. Four more perished in a separate group of vehicles trying to flee.
The fire did not reach the hamlet until around 8 p.m. — three and a half hours after it was first reported — by which time the main road had already been blocked.
Antonio Sanz, who oversees emergencies for the Andalusia region, explained that officials had decided against using an emergency alert system capable of sending messages directly to mobile phones. He said the system couldn’t be customized to give different instructions to different communities — some of whom needed to evacuate while others were better off staying home.
Other Spanish regions, including Madrid, Aragon, and Castile La Mancha, used that same alert system for wildfires just last week.
The Andalusia government stated on July 11 that Bedar’s mayor and other officials had gone door to door delivering guidance, and had instructed residents of Paraje el Curato to shelter in place.
Sophie Vandebroek, whose brother Stanislas Verdonckt was among those killed, said he never received a warning that could have allowed him to get out safely. “If only there had been communication through the emergency alert system when the fire broke out, hours before my brother saw the fire, then Stanislas and his seven neighbors would still be alive today,” she said.
Vandebroek said her family had spoken with the mayor and with other victims’ families. She noted that some relatives had discussed with their loved ones beforehand whether to flee or stay. “It appears that none of the people who died received any official communication before it was too late,” she added.
Bedar’s mayor, Angel Collado, turned down a request for an interview, and the town hall did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment.
A spokesperson for the local military police said all relevant details of the fire are under investigation but declined to elaborate, noting the case is sealed. A spokesperson for Andalusia’s Supreme Court said the judge is focusing the investigation on the cause of the fire.
Experts say that as wildfires across Europe grow more frequent and spread more rapidly, communities must be educated about evacuation routes and safety measures well before any fire breaks out. “The public must be aware in advance of the risks in the area, evacuation routes, and basic self-protection measures. This means mapping out scattered dwellings, planning evacuations and carrying out drills,” said Fernando Medina, a geography professor at the University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria.
Data from the Andalusia government revealed that only 42 of the 103 municipalities in Almeria — the Andalusian province that includes Bedar — had emergency plans in place covering wildfires. Of those, just nine had fulfilled the requirement to update their fire plans every four years for areas classified as at risk.
Bedar’s own emergency plan was last approved in 2019 and was in the process of being revised, according to an Andalusian government spokesperson. The municipality carries an official wildfire risk designation. When asked about the shortage of updated plans, the spokesperson said the regional government offers guidance and support, but that it is ultimately each municipality’s responsibility to keep emergency plans current.
Bedar’s town hall did not respond to multiple requests for comment about its evacuation plans or whether wildfire drills had ever been conducted. Records show that Almeria province’s government held a meeting in February in the neighboring area of Los Gallardos, bringing together 49 municipalities to discuss speeding up the process of updating emergency plans. Bedar’s town hall did not respond to an inquiry about whether it had attended.
Some residents closer to the main village did receive warnings. Waheed Mumtaz, a goatherd, said police came to his location at 10:30 p.m. to tell him to leave. Juan Pedro, a waiter at Bedar’s Miramar restaurant, said the church bells started ringing shortly after the fire broke out, and that a message in a town hall WhatsApp group told him to evacuate. “Here in the village, as soon as we saw the smoke, heard the bells and word got round, everyone knew they had to get out,” he said.
However, not everyone was part of that WhatsApp group. Pedro Tierney, 31, spotted the fire from a distance and rushed home in time to escape by car with his grandmother and aunt. He said he received no evacuation alert. It was “my gut feeling that we had to leave the village — and that’s what saved our lives,” he said.
David Alexander, an emeritus professor of emergency planning and management at University College London, acknowledged that wildfires can shift direction without warning, making it difficult for authorities to communicate precise instructions. But he said the inconsistent messaging during this fire pointed to poor planning, and that officials should have at minimum sent an alert notifying people a fire was burning, even without targeted instructions.
Layton said he hopes authorities will work directly with residents to establish clear warning systems for the future. “I don’t blame anybody — it all happened so quickly — but I found it despicable that they should try to assign blame,” he said.
