Truck fire on A-66 motorway ignites forest blaze, 800 evacuated from Casas de Millán and Grimaldo in Cáceres

How the fire started

A truck travelling northbound on the Autovía de la Plata (A-66) caught fire at kilometre 505, near the exit for Torrejoncillo, at 13:38 on Saturday 1 August. The flames quickly jumped from the heavy vehicle to adjacent scrub and woodland, creating a forest fire within the municipality of Casas de Millán. The Guardia Civil described the rapid spread:

The fire spread quickly to the surrounding vegetation, affecting both the forest environment and the immediate vicinity of the motorway.

Dense smoke and the advancing fire front put the nearest population centres at risk, triggering an immediate emergency response.

Evacuation of two communities

By mid-afternoon, authorities ordered the preventive evacuation of Casas de Millán, a town of roughly 650 residents, and the smaller hamlet of Grimaldo, home to about 150 people. In total, around 800 residents were moved to the municipal sports hall in Cañaveral. Residents received an Es-Alert mobile notification directing them to buses at the Casas de Millán stop. The evacuation also covered isolated dwellings close to the fire perimeter.

Emergency declaration and coordination

The regional government activated Situación Operativa 1 of the Infocaex civil protection plan at 15:40, the level used when a fire threatens people, homes, or non-forest assets and requires protective measures such as confinements, evacuations, or road closures. The declaration was prompted by the possible impact on the urban centres of Casas de Millán and Grimaldo, as well as the municipality of Cañaveral. An advanced command post was set up to coordinate operations on the ground.

Later that evening, the Centro de Coordinación Operativa (Cecop) met under the chairmanship of Vice President Abel Bautista. The meeting decided to maintain the evacuation and keep Situación Operativa 1 in force. A further Cecop session was scheduled for 09:30 on Sunday 2 August to reassess the fire’s evolution and decide on any additional measures.

Firefighting resources deployed

A large multi-agency operation was assembled to contain the blaze. Thirteen aerial assets (four fixed-wing aircraft and nine helicopters) carried out repeated water drops on the most active parts of the fire front. On the ground, four units of forest firefighters worked alongside two helitransported brigades, one environmental agent, one extinction technician, and heavy machinery used to cut firebreaks. The deployment combined resources from the Plan Infoex, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, the Cáceres provincial fire service, the Guardia Civil for traffic control and evacuation support, and Red Cross personnel attending to the displaced residents.

Separate incident in Badajoz

In an unrelated fire the same day, a firefighter from the provincial consortium in Badajoz suffered second-degree burns while tackling a forest fire in Granja de Torrehermosa. The crew was forced to abandon their vehicle after a sudden wind shift; the driver was unable to exit in time and sustained injuries. He received initial treatment at Llerena hospital and was later transferred to the burns unit of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville.