A wildfire that broke out Saturday morning in a residential area of La Vall d’Uixó, Castellón, spread rapidly. The emergency-phase estimate reached 7,200 hectares, most of them within the protected Sierra de Espadán natural park. The fire remained out of control as emergency teams raced to contain it and authorities prepared for a heatwave that could further complicate efforts. Later assessments put the final burned area at about 9,600 hectares, making it the third-largest wildfire in the Valencian Community in the previous decade.
On Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the Advanced Command Post in La Vall d’Uixó, where he described the coming hours as “difficult and complex.” He warned of the increased risk posed by rising temperatures and urged residents to exercise maximum caution. The government was set to approve a royal decree declaring the affected area a zone of serious civil protection emergency, expediting aid and recovery measures.
More than 400 ground personnel and 25 aircraft were deployed to Eslida and the Montserrat urbanization in Betxí. The Montí area in Onda was the third critical front. Fernando Pérez, director of firefighting operations, confirmed that the blaze was neither controlled nor stabilized. Strong winds reaching up to 30 km/h hampered containment efforts. Authorities maintained the evacuation order for approximately 16,000 people across 18 municipalities as the situation remained volatile.
Investigators from the Guardia Civil’s Seprona unit examined the possibility of arson after detecting several ignition points early Saturday. Authorities later confirmed that the fire had been deliberately started. Nearly three months after it began, investigators were still seeking to identify the person responsible, information from RTVE. Confirmation that the fire was deliberate did not identify who started it, and the search for a perpetrator continued.
Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, president of the Generalitat, called for tougher penalties if intentional action was confirmed, describing such acts as environmental crimes with lasting consequences. The Generalitat later allocated €4.2 million to emergency recovery work. The funding covers forest and track restoration, repairs to the CV-219 and CV-223 roads, and safety improvements in affected areas.
The fire formed part of a broader pattern of severe wildfires across Spain that summer. Government figures cited at the time showed that more than 170,000 hectares had burned in a dozen major fires, six times the area lost by that point the previous year. By 4 October 2026, Spain had recorded 8,635 fire incidents. More than 280,000 hectares had burned, about 140% above the average for the preceding decade, according to figures from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge reported by Europa Press. The national response had involved more than 10,000 flight hours, along with 50,259 water drops.
The Valencian Community also faced a cluster of major fires that summer. Fires in Vall d’Uixó and Tuéjar, along with blazes in Tírig and Segorbe, burned approximately 11,750 hectares in total. The Vall d’Uixó blaze was part of a wider regional emergency and an exceptionally severe national fire season.
Local officials, including Tania Baños, mayor of La Vall d’Uixó, stressed the importance of a unified response and long-term recovery for the Sierra de Espadán, a field deeply woven into the community’s identity. The fire damaged ecological infrastructure inside the natural park, including two nesting platforms used by Bonelli’s eagle (Aquila fasciata), classified as endangered in the Valencian Community. The Generalitat’s Grupo de Intervención en Altura rebuilt the platforms on steep, difficult-to-access cliffs in coordination with the Servicio de Vida Silvestre y Red Natura 2000. The work aims to restore breeding sites and support the species’ reproduction in affected territories.
The €4.2 million recovery program also covers ecological restoration, including replacement of the destroyed raptor nests. The consequences extended beyond firefighting to transport infrastructure and forest access. The work also addresses public safety and the recovery of protected wildlife and habitats.
Spain has faced a series of devastating wildfires in recent years, with climate change contributing to hotter, drier summers and increased fire risk. The Sierra de Espadán, known for its biodiversity and scenic value, is one of the largest natural parks in the Valencian Community. The current emergency followed other major incidents in the region, including mass evacuations in Castellón during previous wildfire outbreaks; details are available in coverage of earlier evacuations in Castellón.
As the heatwave approached, emergency services remained on high alert, and the coming days were critical for containing the fire and protecting affected communities. The subsequent investigation into the fire’s origin and the recovery work showed the response’s scale and duration, from identifying those responsible to restoring damaged roads and forests. Repairs also included rebuilding nesting sites.
