Los Gallardos wildfire controlled after becoming deadliest in Spain this century with 13 dead and 7,000 hectares burned

The toll becomes clear

The wildfire that erupted last Thursday in Los Gallardos, Almería, was declared controlled on Monday afternoon by Andalusian president Juanma Moreno, bringing an end to the most lethal forest fire in Spain this century. Thirteen people died in the blaze, the last of them a 93-year-old British woman who succumbed to her injuries in hospital on Sunday night. Eight people remain hospitalised, four in critical condition, and ten more are still listed as missing. Some 7,000 hectares of land have been completely burned.

There is absolute control over this terrible and bloody fire.

Moreno confirmed that a brigade from Infoca, the Andalusian firefighting service, will remain on site to cool the terrain, though the fire no longer poses an immediate threat. Forecast humidity of nearly 90 percent in the coming hours is expected to assist that effort.

Victims identified across nationalities

By Monday evening nine of the thirteen victims had been formally identified by the investigating court in Vera. The latest three identifications are a Belgian married couple and a British woman. Of the total dead, five are from the United Kingdom, three from Belgium, one from France and one Spanish citizen, all of them adults. The Civil Guard is delivering the notifications in person, accompanied by a psychologist. Identification of the remaining three bodies is nearing completion thanks to biological samples arriving from relatives through consular cooperation from Belgium, the United Kingdom and France.

Behind this news lie three lives, as well as families and friends who lose a loved one today. I express my most sincere and profound condolences.

Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot said consular services are supporting affected families through all the procedures they now face. He also praised the firefighters and emergency service members who continue to risk their lives.

The warning controversy

Questions are mounting over the decision not to send an ES-Alert mass notification to mobile phones. Andalusia's regional government councillor Antonio Sanz stated that technicians studied the option and concluded it would cause confusion. Instead, Bédar mayor Ángel Collado mobilised local police and councillors to go door-to-door after residents themselves alerted him to the smoke. Not everyone was reached. The son of one victim recounted speaking to his father by phone as the fire approached, unaware that a wildfire was bearing down on him.

I was on the phone with my father when it happened; there was no warning, they didn't know there was a fire and when they found out because they saw the flames, it was already too late.

Political unity and divergence

Prime minister Pedro Sánchez and Andalusian president Juanma Moreno appeared together at the advanced command post in Turre on Monday, presenting a united front. Sánchez stressed that "the climate emergency kills" and called on all administrations and society to rise to the challenge. Moreno likewise pointed to the problems caused by climate change during heatwaves. Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who also visited the site, made no mention of climate change in his remarks. Andalusia's PSOE secretary-general María Jesús Montero noted the paradox of Moreno warning about climate change while governing in coalition with Vox, a party that denies it.

The climate emergency kills and consequently we must all — every administration and society as a whole — rise to the challenge ahead of us.

A community returns

Bédar began to recover its daily rhythm on Monday after three days of mandatory evacuation. Shutters went up, conversations returned to the streets, and neighbours embraced before even asking how they were. Emilia Vicente Martín, the town's pharmacist, reopened her shop on what was her son's first day of work, though intermittent internet connections made it impossible to access electronic prescriptions. She remembered serving one of the Belgian victims on the Thursday before the fire, and recalled the smile he left with.

Who isn't coming back are the friends we've lost. The only thing to talk about with the fire is them, those who left us.

Guardia Civil officers who rescued two of the hospitalised described hearing voices while descending a hillside and finding several people, all British nationals, in very poor condition. The identification process for the last three bodies continues, with genetic profiling already completed for all twelve victims found at the scene.