Spanish police accuse tractor driver of sparking wildfire as blazes spread

The number of people forced to flee the heatwave-induced fires in Spain and France has now passed the 100,000 mark.

Spanish police have arrested a man accused of sparking a wildfire by using farm machinery, as blazes across the country and in France continue to force mass evacuations.

The tractor driver’s arrest came as the fire he was linked to drove tens of thousands from their homes around the capital Madrid, as a national wildfire emergency was announced for the first time in Spain.

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The number of people forced to flee the heatwave-induced fires in Spain and France has now passed the 100,000 mark.

Police said a second suspect is being investigated over a similar incident. Amid tinderbox conditions, authorities had declared a prohibition on the use of farm machinery and other activities.

The fire, one of several burning across central Spain, has merged two blazes west of Madrid into a single wave that has burned through 30 square kilometres (11.5sq miles) and which officials have called the worst in the region’s history.

Local authorities have now ordered about 40,000 people to evacuate areas west of the capital or to shelter indoors.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X that his government had deployed “all available resources” against what he called a “dramatic situation” spreading beyond Spain’s borders.

“The wildfire is at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain,” Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, told reporters.

A separate fire in Avila province, also part of the central Castilla y Leon region, has burned 90sq km (35sq miles) and displaced about 1,500 people.

Firefighters and civillians attempt to extinguish a wildfire as it approaches houses in El Tiemblo, in Avila province. (File: Getty)

France is also battling dangerous fires. One blaze has swept through the Cap Ferret Peninsula, burning about 125sq km (50sq miles) and forcing roughly 44,000 people to evacuate the Gironde department, some by boat.

A second blaze in the Landes region has displaced approximately 23,000 more.

French authorities have appealed to the European Union for reinforcements as fires rage on two fronts in its southwest.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France now has 32 active wildfires, including more than 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) burned since January – almost three times last year’s total.

The EU has sent four water-bombing aircraft to Spain and three to France, while additional aid has been pledged by Italy, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The World Health Organization’s European office noted that land burned by wildfires across the continent has risen 57 percent in four years, with fires in Spain and Portugal more than doubling since last year.