Wildfire Devastates Southern Spain
At least 12 people have died and 23 others remain missing following a wildfire in southern Spain that emergency responders continued to battle on Friday.
Authorities reported that the fire began in the Los Gallardos area of Almería on Thursday afternoon, apparently triggered when an electricity pole fell in woodland, igniting the blaze.
Several eyewitnesses described the destruction to local media, comparing it to "like a bomb has fallen" on the municipality, while others recounted how the fire spread with "unbelievably quick" speed.
Lucinda Curtois arrived in Spain on Thursday with her partner Riyaz Cheytan and their teenage children for a holiday. They were at a pool in Bédar, near the fire's origin, at about 19:00 local time when neighbors alerted them to an evacuation notice.
"Within 15 minutes there was a tiny bit of haze, to black smoke, to flames," Curtois told the BBC. "It was really frightening and unbelievably quick."
The family quickly gathered a change of clothes, got into their car, and headed toward the main road near their property.
"We turned the corner and all of a sudden the fire was there, there were two coaches of people evacuating too," Cheytan said.
They were forced to turn around and find an alternative route. Curtois described the scene as they drove away:
"It was almost like there was a mushroom cloud of smoke, it was like a bomb had gone off."
The family eventually reached a hotel about half an hour away, along with other evacuees. However, some family friends who had started walking to evacuate were still missing.
Fellow Brit Peter Chapman was at his holiday home in Mojacar, a short drive from Los Gallardos, with his wife Shelagh on Thursday.
When he first noticed the sky darkening, Chapman initially thought a storm was approaching.
"Then there was that smell of smoke in the air," he told the BBC.
"You could see a glow in the sky in the distance. The only way I can describe it is by thinking of how my mother used to describe the London bombings during the Second World War. It was surreal."
The couple remained at their property but woke on Friday morning to ash and smoke in the air.
On a local Facebook forum, Chapman noted that people were seeking information about potentially missing individuals.
"It's just terrible," he added.
Peter Rowlinson, a resident of Los Gallardos, commended the authorities' efforts to control the fire but described the experience as "very frightening."
He is currently staying with relatives.
"We left last night, the smoke was horrendous. We had to get out. The house is still there but there is ash everywhere," he told the BBC.
Rowlinson noted that "hundreds" of people had been displaced by the fire and highlighted the community's response, with locals offering spare rooms, bars, and restaurants.
"There's a real sense of community in the whole area," he said.
Los Gallardos resident Jose Antonio Flores suffered significant losses as the fire destroyed land he had cultivated for decades.
"It rips your soul out," he told news agency. Pointing to his son, he added, "I raised him there, where the fire is. I had 600 orange trees."
Andrew Mills, who is semi-retired and has lived in Spain for five years, commented on the wildfire situation.
"Wildfires are common during summer months," he said. "But this fire was different. Within two hours that whole set of mountains was alight, they just had no chance of stopping it."
Throughout Friday, hundreds of firefighters, military personnel, law enforcement officers, and 30 aircraft continued efforts to contain the blaze.
Los Gallardos mayor Francisco Miguel Reyes spoke to Spanish radio station Cadena SER about the unprecedented nature of the fire.
"This is the first time we've faced a fire as devastating as this," he said, adding, "it feels like a bomb has fallen" on the area.
"When I think about how everything was before the fire started and see how it is now, it's breathtaking."
