Ávila is proof that the large forest fires are here to stay

If we talk about forest fires, 2025 was a tragic year. The flames burned tens of thousands of hectaresthey punished natural places as The Marrows or the surroundings of Lake Sanabria and left one of the worst episodes in the history of Spain: the fire of Larouco, Quiroga and Oencia, in the northwest of the peninsula, which stained with ash 37,675 hours. They were missing 19 days to break it. That figure marked a milestone and turned it into the worst episode of its kind in the recent history of Spain, a nightmare that seemed difficult to overcome.

It didn’t take us even a year to destroy that brand.

What has happened? That the summer of 2026 is being bloody in terms of forest fires. a few weeks ago a fire in Los Gallardos, Almería, claimed the lives of more than a dozen people and in recent days the flames have forced firefighters to be mobilized in several regions of Spain, including the two points that are currently generating greater expectation: he peninsular center(Madrid, Ávila and Toledo) and Vall d´Uixóin the province of Castellón.

Is it that worrying? Yeah. I recognized it Just yesterday the Minister of the Environment, Sara Aagesen: “We are experiencing an extraordinarily complicated season. As complicated as we have had 153,000 hectares affected throughout the national territory, which is six times more than the year 2025, if we compare with the same period. 2025 was extremely complex and complicated and we are seeing how this year it is multiplied by six.”

Are they all the same? No. The situation is particularly worrying in the territory between the Community of Madrid and the provinces of Ávila and Toledo. At least that is what the data that the Government has been advancing suggests.

According to InteriorBetween the three fires, 89,763 people have been affected: 59,896 have been evacuated and 29,867 confined. Regarding charred surface, yesterday Aagesen pointed to more than 77,000 hectares between the three territories: just over 2,000 in Toledo, 25,000 in Madrid and nearly 50,000 in Ávila.

50,000 hectares? Correct. That last fact is the most striking (disheartening) of all, as recognize the minister: “In the case of Ávila we are talking about the largest forest fire in recent history in our country.” The truth is that today it exceeds the extent of other critical episodes, such as the one suffered in 2025 in Zamora or that of Cabrera Llamasin Bierzo.

The Burgohondo (Ávila) episode also surpasses the Losacio fire, in Zamora, which became one of the most devastating in the recent chronicle of Spain, with more than 35,000 hoursor the one that last August punished the provinces of Ourense, Lugo and León, which until not long ago some experts considered the largest in the history of Spain, with a balance of 37,765 hours calcined

How is it possible? The big question. Factors such as weather conditions (especially the strength of the wind gusts) and the characteristics of the fires themselves, which advance on several fronts, come into play.

The equation is, however, much more complex and other factors are added, including the imprudencehe abandonment of the mountains favored by the depopulation of rural areas or even a change in the characteristics of the fires, which, encouraged precisely by the accumulation of weeds and climate change, lead to the so-called sixth generation fires.

Image | Ministry of Defense (X)

In Xataka | Spain has more and more forests and fewer resources to prevent fires. Their solution: fire donkeys