Spain declared a national emergency late Thursday covering the Madrid region and the neighbouring province of Ávila, as wildfires burned out of control across the area.
The declaration, issued by the Interior Ministry, is designed to accelerate the mobilisation of firefighting resources and transfers operational command to a military emergency unit.
More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from various parts of the Madrid region over recent days as several fires burned simultaneously. On Thursday alone, authorities ordered 3,500 residents to leave their homes in a town west of the capital after blazes there broke out of control.
In Ávila, a fire that ignited Thursday was spreading rapidly. Residents in the municipalities of Burgohondo, El Tiemblo and Navaluenga were ordered to remain indoors, while 1,500 people were evacuated from a rural tourism complex and a residential development in El Tiemblo as the flames advanced quickly.
The largest fire is burning on the opposite side of Madrid, in the province of Guadalajara roughly 100 kilometres north of the capital. That blaze has consumed 32,000 hectares since it broke out.
