Spanish authorities detained two men, aged 51 and 42, in Almorox (Toledo) on suspicion of causing the wildfire that devastated parts of the region and later spread into the Community of Madrid. The Guardia Civil carried out the arrests at 8:55 a.m., following an investigation that pointed to serious negligence: both men were allegedly welding on a forested plot despite a strict ban imposed because of the area’s extreme fire risk.
Information from sources cited by EL PAÍS, the welding took place on private land in Almorox, where all such work was temporarily prohibited. The fire began in a residential area of the town and quickly crossed into Villa del Prado in Madrid, where it joined two other active blazes. This chain of events contributed to the formation of the Sierra Oeste megafire, described as Spain’s largest wildfire, with more than 60,000 hectares affected across Ávila and Madrid. By 21 October, Copernicus data cited by Europa Press put Spain’s burned area at 301,413 hectares, about 43% of the European Union total; fires affecting Madrid, Ávila and Toledo in late July accounted for more than 77,000 hectares combined.
The suspects are expected to appear before the Court of Instruction No. 2 in Torrijos, which is handling the legal proceedings. The investigation suggests that the men’s disregard for the ban on high-risk activities led to the outbreak; the fire danger index was officially classified as “extreme” at the time. Authorities are treating the case as a matter of public safety given the scale of the destruction and the risk to nearby communities.
The incident comes amid a series of severe wildfires in central Spain, with emergency services stretched thin and local governments imposing new restrictions to prevent further outbreaks. The Almorox fire’s rapid spread and impact on Madrid’s outskirts echo concerns raised in recent coverage, including the critical situation faced by Ávila and Madrid during the peak of the wildfire crisis. The Sierra Oeste fire complex was among the season’s concentrated large-fire events: reports described fronts merging and threatening to connect with the Burgohondo fire in Ávila. EFE, citing María Caballero, linked the rapid spread to heat waves and vegetation water stress, which increase available fuel and accelerate fire behavior.
Spain’s wildfire season has grown increasingly dangerous in recent years, driven by prolonged drought and high temperatures, alongside changing land-use patterns. MITECO’s provisional figures recorded 8,122 wildfire incidents between 1 January and 20 September 2026, 7% above the previous decade’s average and 18% above the same period in 2025. Forest burned area reached 275,209 hectares, 2.5 times the ten-year average, including 153,872 hectares of wooded land. Fires exceeding 500 hectares accounted for 80.5% of the burned area; Spain recorded 45 such fires by 20 September, compared with 62 in the same period of 2025, while their average size reached 4,925 hectares, 59% above the decade average.
Copernicus’s European Forest Fire Information System recorded 301,299 hectares burned in Spain by 14 October, 43.1% of the 697,729 hectares recorded across the European Union, and counted 463 fires in the country. The national total had already reached 50,750 hectares by 5 July, more than twice the area recorded by that date in 2025. The figures show how a small number of exceptionally large fires shaped the season. Spain’s legal structure imposes penalties for negligence during periods of elevated fire risk, particularly where prohibited activities are involved. The Almorox case highlights the challenge of enforcing those restrictions and the consequences when they are ignored, as the judicial process proceeds and attention remains focused on accountability and prevention in vulnerable rural areas.
