At least 12 people have died and six others have been injured in a wildfire near Los Gallardos, in the south-eastern Spanish province of Almería, according to the Andalusian regional government. Some victims were found inside vehicles that had been engulfed by flames, and witnesses have suggested the blaze was sparked by a downed power line before spreading rapidly to nearby woodland, though authorities have not confirmed the cause. The disaster is part of a wider crisis, as a sustained heatwave with temperatures of around 40C (104F) fuels wildfires across southern Europe, with hundreds of firefighters tackling major incidents in France, Portugal and Spain and thousands of people forced from their homes.

Around 150 firefighters worked to bring the fire under control in a hamlet called Bedar, where roughly 1,000 residents were evacuated and roads were closed; the injured included people treated for smoke inhalation, burns and respiratory problems. Spain's Military Emergency Unit joined the response, after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in May that the country would deploy its largest-ever summer wildfire operation. The context is stark: Spain recorded its highest June daily average since 1950, last year saw a record 393,000 hectares burn — more than six times the national average — and 2024 was the EU's worst wildfire season on record. Scientists note that Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, and studies link the worsening Mediterranean fire season directly to climate change.