The fires in Madrid and Ávila are already forcing 100,000 people to evacuate or confine.

The large forest fires devastating the province of Ávila and the Community of Madrid have already forced 100,000 people to be evacuated or confined and affect 45,000 hectares. The two fires remain active and are advancing uncontrollably. For four days, strong gusts of wind have hindered extinction efforts, and firefighters’ efforts have involved grueling workdays. The operational efforts this Sunday will again focus on protecting populations, preemptively evacuating, and preventing the flames from both fronts from merging. Even so, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) already treats them as a single large fire, and the Government has extended the national emergency to Toledo. The key during the day will, once again, be the wind.

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“It has not been a positive day, it has not been because the meteorological conditions have been absolutely difficult, and if it hasn’t worsened, it has been thanks to the work of all public servants,” said the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, on Saturday night after the last Cecop meeting. Extinction efforts continued tirelessly after sunset with a clear objective: to prevent the flames from the south, originating from the Burgohondo fire in Ávila, from converging with those advancing from Madrid. The head of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), Lieutenant General Francisco Javier Marcos Izquierdo, pointed out that they have only joined in a “very small discontinuous front” in the town of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, which is located between the two fronts. The minimum separation zone is about 15 kilometers, according to Marcos: “We believe we have stopped the advance of the flames within these two fires, as well as on the eastern flank that could roll towards Madrid. The perimeter is defined, but it is not consolidated.”

Everything will depend, once again, on the wind. Meteorological conditions will be somewhat better than on previous days, and less strong gusts are expected. On Saturday, gusts above 50 kilometers per hour were recorded in Ávila, and in Madrid, they exceeded 40, details Javier Armenteros, delegate of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in the Community of Madrid. “Today will be much more favorable meteorologically: the wind will no longer be strong,” he predicts. Although strong gusts did occur during the night on the peaks of the Ávila mountains. For the rest of the day, they are expected to be weaker, and, although generally from the north, “there may be moments when it changes direction.” The problem when making an accurate forecast is that “the magnitude of the fire disturbs the entire environment and creates its own meteorological conditions.”

As the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, already stated on Saturday: the situation is especially complex because “they don’t know what the wind’s evolution will be.” He said this during his visit to the command post in Madrid, and this Sunday he will travel to the one in Castilla y León, located in Navaluenga.

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The fire that is scorching hectare after hectare ―already affecting 24,000― in the Sierra Oeste of Madrid remains unstabilized and uncontained, despite having slowed its advance during the night. The early morning allowed firefighters to act on different fronts. “The personnel have had some incidents with the wind because it blew in gusts during the night at some point, but they have managed to work, and this Sunday they are awaiting how the wind might evolve,” a spokesperson for 112 Community of Madrid tells this newspaper. In the community, there are already 12 evacuated municipalities and four confined: in total, 29,488 people are sleeping outside their homes and 21,132 are confined in their villages.

The Burgohondo fire, in Ávila, has also continued to consume land. It is moving south of the province uncontrollably, and its advance in the Tiétar Valley, which had to be evacuated, is a concern. Extinction efforts have intensified there since Saturday, and the night work of firefighters deployed to the southern area has focused on protecting towns. The fire already affects 21,000 hectares according to the latest data and has forced the evacuation of around 30,000 people from 16 municipalities and confined another 8,000 in the province. It is expected that residents of more localities will receive alerts on their mobile phones during the day to leave their villages and head to areas prepared to accommodate them. In addition, there are those affected in Toledo: 5,000 evacuated from 11 localities.