Declared a large-scale fire in the Madrid municipality of Santa María de la Alameda

A large fire broke out around five in the afternoon this Tuesday again in the Sierra Oeste of Madrid, which already burned at the end of July in the worst environmental disaster in the region’s history. Specifically, the fire affects the municipality of Santa María de la Alameda, a mountain town of almost 1,600 inhabitants located in the northwest of the community, 71 kilometers from the capital and at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama, near the provinces of Ávila and Segovia.

Read more Tom Jones criticizes his dismissal from ‘The Voice’: “It’s never a good time for an 86-year-old man who is still quite good at his job”

According to a spokesperson for 112 Comunidad de Madrid who informed this newspaper around 6:30 pm, the fire originated at the Cofio River bridge, on the M-505 road. This bridge is currently under construction, which will extend until October with a budget of 5.2 million euros.

“Six aerial units and 14 ground units from the Madrid Community Fire Department, forest firefighters, and forest agents are working at the site,” the spokesperson specified, adding that more aerial units have been requested from the Infocam plan of Castilla-La Mancha, which has already activated two, and from the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MiTEco).

At 6:45 pm, the confinement of the small population center of La Paradilla, with 31 inhabitants, and the La Estación urbanization, with 871 residents, was ordered due to “possible smoke impact.” Additionally, the M-505 between La Paradilla and the Cofio River bridge has been closed. The General Directorate of Traffic has indicated that the M-505 is also closed in Valdemaqueda and the CL-505 in Las Navas del Marqués (Ávila).

For now, the situation remains at operational level 0 of the Special Civil Protection Plan for Forest Fires (Infoma), that is, in an alert or pre-emergency phase for a fire that is understood to be controllable with the region’s resources.

Read more No concert or dance: the residents of Ciudad Lineal complain about their Board for canceling activities from the La Elipa festival program

“At this time it remains out of control with significant progress. Three helitranported brigades and three ground forest firefighter brigades from the Community of Madrid are already working in the area,” an unofficial account managed by members of this service wrote on X at 5:45 pm.

The MiTEco Reinforcement Brigade has already left for the area and the Heavy Machinery Teams from El Escorial and Navas del Rey have been activated. The weather outlook is not good, as there is a yellow warning for high temperatures throughout the region and strong northwest wind is expected in this area for the next few hours.