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Spain's three worst wildfires since 1961 happened in last two years / Photo: Miguel RIOPA - AFP
Spain's three worst wildfires since 1961 happened in last two years
The wildfire that engulfed Spain's Avila region, northwest of the capital Madrid, is now considered the largest in the country's modern history, with around 50,000 hectares burned, the government said this week.
With this incident, the three largest wildfires recorded nationwide have all occurred within the last two years, according to the latest data from the General Statistics on Forest Fires (EGIF), which date back to 1961.
- Burgohondo, Avila (July 2026) -
On Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Spain lifted evacuation orders issued during wildfires in over a dozen towns across Madrid and Avila allowing thousands of displaced residents to return to their homes.
Firefighters continued working to contain the fires across Madrid and Avila regions, which after a week had devastated around 50,000 hectares.
- Larouco, Ourense (August 2025) -
A fire that broke out on August 13, 2025, in Larouco, in the northwestern province of Ourense, burned 37,765 hectares of forest land, according to provisional 2025 figures from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Miteco).
This fire occurred during a summer marked by severe wildfires across the country, which devastated nearly 400,000 hectares that year and resulted in four fatalities.
- La Mierla, Guadalajara (July 2026) -
A week before the fire in central Spain, another broke out in the province of Guadalajara, devastating 32,000 hectares in an arid, sparsely populated area of the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha.
More than a week after it began on July 24, the fire was described to be in a "stabilization phase" and showing favourable progress, fire prevention and suppression services told AFP.
- Losacio, Zamora (July 2022) -
The Losacio fire, which broke out on July 17, 2022, burned 31,473 hectares, including non-forested land, according to the consolidated report published by Miteco.
It was one of two devastating fires that ravaged more than 65,000 hectares in the Sierra de la Culebra that summer -- accounting for one-fifth of the total area burned in Spain that year -- and resulted in four deaths.
- Cortes de Pallas, Valencia (June 2012) -
In 2012, two forest fires in the same area of the Valencian Community devastated approximately 54,000 hectares, according to EGIF, and claimed the life of a helicopter pilot.
The largest was the Cortes de Pallas fire; detected on June 28. It consumed 28,879 hectares of forest and 1,812 hectares of non-forested land, totalling 30,691 hectares.
If only the burned forest area is considered, the 2004 fire in Minas de Riotinto (southern Spain) was more devastating, destroying 29,867 hectares of forest (29,946 hectares in total).
That fire resulted in two deaths and the evacuation of a thousand people.
(M.Scott--TAG)
