Spain Tames Fire That Sent Smoke Cloud Over Madrid. July 18, 2025

A firefighting airplane releases water over burned areas following a wildfire which started in the municipality of Mentrida (JAVIER SORIANO)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Spain Tames Fire That Sent Smoke Cloud Over Madrid

Spanish firefighters on Friday were bringing under control a forest fire near Madrid that had cloaked the capital in a huge cloud of acrid smoke.

The blaze that broke out on Thursday around 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of the city had burned through 3,100 hectares (7,660 acres), the Madrid region's leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso wrote on X.

More than 100 firefighters and the Spanish army's emergency unit were deployed on the ground and in the air to extinguish the flames.

"The fire is now contained," Madrid's emergency services agency said, warning that the wind forecast for Friday "could complicate the work".

Madrid's civil protection authority advised people to stay indoors on Thursday as the gigantic cloud of orange and grey smoke hung over the city, recommending wearing masks to avoid inhaling ash.

Normality was returning on Friday in the municipalities closest to the fire, with a major motorway reopened and **clearer skies** in Madrid.

Although the cause of the fire is unknown, Spain is experiencing hotter summers, exacerbated by human-induced climate change, which increases the length, frequency, and intensity of wildfires.

More than 25,000 hectares have burned so far this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

rs/imm/ds/ach

-