MADRID — A wildfire tearing through Spain’s central Guadalajara province continued burning out of control Monday, marking its fifth consecutive day of destruction and earning the grim distinction of being the country’s largest wildfire so far this year. The situation is expected to worsen as a powerful heatwave moves closer.
The La Mierla wildfire has now scorched more than 26,000 hectares, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of three more municipalities on Monday. In total, more than 1,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
Regional leader Emiliano Garcia-Page described the scale of the emergency, noting that nearly 30 populated communities are currently surrounded by the fire. He stressed that protecting human lives and keeping the flames away from residential areas remains the top priority for crews battling the blaze.
The timing could hardly be worse. Spain’s national weather agency, AEMET, announced that the country’s third heatwave of 2026 is expected to persist at least through Thursday. Temperatures across much of the southeastern interior could climb past 40 degrees Celsius — roughly 104 degrees Fahrenheit — pushing wildfire danger to extreme levels. Some locations may see temperatures reach as high as 42 to 44 degrees Celsius by Thursday, fueled by hot, dry air sweeping northward from Africa. The agency also cautioned that dry thunderstorms could develop in mountainous regions of eastern Spain, further complicating conditions.
This latest disaster follows a deadly wildfire near Bedar, in Almeria province, that killed 13 people less than two weeks ago — one of the deadliest fires Spain has seen in decades.
Spain is already the hardest-hit country in the European Union when it comes to wildfires this year. Data from the EU’s Copernicus wildfire monitoring service shows that 104,423 hectares have burned across Spain in 2026, far outpacing France, where 41,781 hectares have burned.
The current crisis follows an already devastating fire season last summer, when Spain saw 354,747 hectares burned and 63 large wildfires — the highest annual burned area recorded in the past ten years. Scientists have linked the trend of increasingly severe wildfire seasons in Spain and across southern Europe to climate change.
