A devastating wildfire swept through the Sierra de la Cabrera-Bédar in Almería on Thursday, 9 July, leaving at least 12 people dead and 23 unaccounted for in the first phase of the emergency. The blaze spread toward nearby municipalities, including Bédar, and forced more than 1,400 residents to evacuate towns and scattered settlements, among them Los Gallardos, Almocáizar and Alfaix. Emergency teams, backed by 32 aircraft and 13 fire engines, worked around the clock to contain the flames. The initial estimate put the burned area at 4,000 hectares; later reports put it at about 6,600 hectares, while subsequent accounts described roughly 7,000 hectares as perimeter mapping and damage assessments progressed.
Andalusian emergency services received the first alert at 16:35, reporting flames near Almocáizar in Los Gallardos. Within minutes, local officials and police began warning residents as the fire, suspected at the time to have been sparked by a fallen power line along the N-340A, raced through dry vegetation. By 17:30, flames were advancing toward El Pinar. Officials issued door-to-door warnings and, in some cases, told residents to shelter indoors because the fire was moving so quickly and unpredictably. Contemporaneous coverage by Levante-EMV reported that the fire advanced at up to 100 metres per minute.
Strong southwesterly winds, gusting up to 50 km/h, and temperatures of 40°C accelerated the fire’s spread. The situation escalated quickly: by 20:08, the regional emergency plan had been raised to operational level 1. Authorities began preventive evacuations in scattered housing areas. Early reports put the number of evacuees at about 1,000; that figure rose as officials cleared more communities and isolated homes. By nightfall, staff had cleared the Los Gallardos campsite, where around 400 people were staying, in under ten minutes, urging guests to leave immediately. Many evacuees watched the flames approach from the basic road, grasping the scale of the threat only as they escaped.
As night fell, the fire entered ravines and hillsides dotted with isolated homes, making rescue efforts harder. Some residents became trapped while trying to escape on secondary roads. Firefighters from Plan Infoca carried out controlled burns in the north and near the campsite to stop the fire’s advance. The Junta de Andalucía requested military support. By early morning, 220 members of the Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME) were on site, reinforcing containment lines and operating heavy machinery.
The first victims, mainly British and Belgian nationals living in rural homes or visiting on holiday, were found overnight. Around 1:00, Bédar’s mayor and fire crews found ten people trapped on a dead-end path after they had left shelter. Two were rescued with severe burns; the other eight died. By Friday afternoon, the number of people reported missing had risen to 23, although only three official disappearance reports had been filed, information from the Interior Ministry. The death toll later rose as recovery and identification work continued: subsequent reports put it at 13, then 14, while Canal Sur and El Debate later reported 15 deaths. Most victims were foreign residents who had settled in the Almería area.
Throughout Friday, the Guardia Civil searched rural properties and paths around Bédar for survivors and additional victims. Authorities also ordered precautionary evacuations at a tourist complex near Alfaix because of heavy smoke, though flames did not reach the area. The fire’s perimeter kept expanding, surpassing 4,000 hectares by the end of the day. The situation remained unstable, with difficult terrain, scattered housing and persistent adverse weather.
The wildfire mainly affected Los Gallardos and Bédar, while also threatening Turre, Antas, Mojácar and Garrucha. Authorities focused on protecting residents and locating missing people, while working to stabilize the fire’s perimeter. The scale of the tragedy recalls other deadly incidents in Spain, including the 1984 La Gomera fire and the 1979 Lloret de Mar disaster. Local and regional responders mobilized quickly, with military resources joining the effort. The response echoed other Spanish emergencies, including the evacuation of residents in Barcelona following a major sinkhole.
The fire became one of the defining disasters of Andalusia’s 2026 wildfire season. By late October, La Voz del Sur reported that wildfires had burned 59,685 hectares in Andalusia, while Europa Press, citing Copernicus data, reported 301,413 hectares burned across Spain by 21 October, equal to 43% of the European Union total. Estimates of the Los Gallardos fire’s final area varied as mapping and damage assessments progressed. Early estimates, later figures of about 6,600 hectares and subsequent reports of roughly 7,000 hectares reflect different stages of that process.
Spain’s geography and climate leave it particularly vulnerable to wildfires, especially in regions such as Almería, where dry conditions and strong winds are common. The Sierra de la Cabrera-Bédar’s steep ravines and scattered settlements pose particular challenges for emergency services. The disaster renewed public attention to prevention and emergency coordination, with municipal preparedness also under scrutiny. As recovery and containment work continued, authorities focused on supporting displaced residents and reducing the risk of further losses.
