MADRID (AP) — One of Spain's deadliest wildfires on record killed 12 people overnight into Friday, authorities said, as soaring temperatures grip much of the country.
Several victims of the fire in the southern province of Almeria, a popular holiday destination, were found inside burnt-out vehicles and were thought to have died while trying to flee the flames.
Eight people have been injured and a further 23 are unaccounted for, Andalusia’s regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said. Some 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain’s military emergency unit were battling the blaze, which has consumed more than 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) of forest and farmland.
Regional emergency authorities said four British nationals and other unspecified foreign nationals appeared to be among the dead.
The fire broke out in a hamlet in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains. Authorities have not confirmed the cause, but said people who called to report the fire said that a fallen power line had sparked a blaze that spread rapidly into a nearby forest.
Most of the victims died while attempting to flee and ignored shelter-in-place instructions, said Antonio Sanz, president of Andalusia’s emergency services. One group did so via a dry riverbed, which “turned into a death trap,” he said.
Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars, Sanz said, likely looking for a way out.
“The consequences have been terrible. Everything seems to indicate that, in the case of the deceased ... we are dealing for the most part, if not entirely, with foreign nationals,” Sanz said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences. “Immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almeria,” he wrote on X.
Spain has battled frequent and severe heat waves in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 40 C (104 F). Wind, high temperatures and little rainfall help small wildfires grow into unchecked blazes.
In June, Spain experienced several days of record-setting heat, with over 1,000 excess deaths attributed to heat.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Parts of Western Europe are facing their third heat wave in six weeks. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.
France is experiencing the peak of its third heatwave of the summer, with temperatures reaching 40 C (104 F) across western and central areas and around 37 C (98 F) in Paris.
French authorities have also warned of a very high wildfire risk, as large fires in the south have already scorched thousands of hectares this week, disrupted the Tour de France cycling race and stretching firefighting resources.
The largest wildfire, which broke out in the eastern Pyrenees, near the Spanish border, has decreased in intensity, authorities said Friday.
It burned about 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) and forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people from nearly villages, who have since been allowed to return home.
Last month was France’s hottest June on record, with deaths surging by nearly a third during the hottest week.
Scientists warn that climate change caused in part by the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making certain regions more vulnerable to wildfires.
Spain is no stranger to wildfires, with last year's fire season burning more than 393,000 hectares (almost 1,520 square miles), according to the European Forest Fire Information System, an area twice as large as London. Four people died.
In 2017, a wildfire in neighboring Portugal left 66 people dead in Pedrogao Grande, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Lisbon.
In that blaze, 47 people died on one road while similarly attempting to flee in their cars.
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Associated Press journalist Sylvie Corbet, in Paris, contributed.
A Military Emergency Unit vehicle operates as a wildfire rages in Alfajir, near Almeria in southeastern Spain, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
A wildfire rages in Alfajir, near Almeria in southeastern Spain, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
A wildfire rages in Alfajir, near Almeria in southeastern Spain, Friday, July 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
MADRID (AP) — Wildfires raging across Europe have killed hundreds of people over the last decade, and climate change is set to push the death toll even higher in the coming years.
A wildfire in southern Spain killed at least 11 people overnight into Friday morning, making it one of the country’s deadliest on record, as soaring temperatures gripped much of the country.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.
Scientists warn that climate change caused in part by the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making certain regions more vulnerable to wildfires.
Here's a look at some of the last decade's deadliest wildfires across Europe:
Greece’s deadliest wildfire was in 2018, when a massive blaze swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 people died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
In 2023, more than 20 people died in Greek wildfires, including 18 migrants who became trapped by the flames of what became Europe’s largest single recorded wildfire as they crossed through a forest in northeastern Greece.
More recently, a wildfire in northern Greece killed a 12-year-old boy and his father last week.
Last July, 10 firefighters and rescue workers were killed while trying to put out a wildfire that raged in a forested area of Eskisehir province in northwestern Turkey. The victims were forestry workers and members of the AKUT rescue organization.
Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said at the time that winds suddenly changed direction, causing the flames to shift and surround the forestry workers.
One of them was a 28-year-old man who had returned to work from his honeymoon just two days earlier. And one AKUT volunteer had spent a month rescuing the victims of a catastrophic earthquake that struck southern Turkey in February 2023.
Portugal's deadliest wildfire left 66 people dead in 2017 in Pedrogao Grande, 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Lisbon. Most of the victims died on one road while trying to flee in cars.
Additional late-season wildfires brought 2017's annual wildfire-related death toll in Portugal even higher, to more than 120 people, making it the deadliest year for such fatalities. The victims included a 1-month-old infant and the baby's parents.
The Portuguese government went on to enact a range of measures to prevent and contain wildfires.
Reforms included public education campaigns on how fires start, establishing a rapid reaction force of firefighters and cutting several thousand kilometers (miles) of firebreaks, as well as making available a large number of firefighting assets.
In Cyprus, many officials have pointed to climate change for the ferocity and speed of recent wildfires that have claimed at least six lives over the last five years.
In July 2021, the charred remains of four Egyptian laborers were discovered outside a fire-swept mountain village in what one official called the “most destructive” blaze the east Mediterranean island nation had ever seen.
Last July, rescue crews found the bodies of an elderly couple inside a gutted car on the shoulder of a mountain road. The speed with which the wildfire scorched roughly 50 square miles of forested hillsides prompted President Nikos Christodoulides to remark that “there’s never been anything like this before in Cyprus.”
Very strong winds, high temperatures and very arid conditions after three winters of minimal rainfall created a perfect storm at the wildfire’s peak.
In August last year, a study by World Weather Attribution said climate change that has driven scorching temperatures and dwindling rainfall made massive wildfires in Turkey, Greece and Cyprus burn much more fiercely that summer.
A firefighter works on a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Sunday, July 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a warehouse during a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Sunday, July 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Firefighters work on a wildfire near Ille-sur-Têt, southern France, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Locals try to extinguish a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
