Displaced from wildfires in Spain share their stories of uncertainty and narrow escapes

Displaced from Wildfires in Spain share their stories of uncertainty and narrow escapes 0 seconds of 46 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Spain’s World Cup champions arrive home 01:17 00:00 00:46 00:46 More Videos 01:17 Spain’s World Cup champions arrive home 01:24 Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke 01:15 Endangered newts released into wild at secret location in Spain 00:46 Wild celebrations in Madrid after Spain seal World Cup victory 00:43 Fans react outside the stadium after Spain win the World Cup by beating Argentina 1-0 00:58 China calls for stronger regional cooperation at ASEAN meeting, Japan backs FOIP 01:04 Austria home where Hitler was born reopens as police station 01:03 UN warns Middle East tensions threaten vital regional trade routes Close 1 of 6 | Wildfires across Spain continue to give concern as a new blaze broke out in the eastern province of Castellon, Valencia. 15,000 people have had to be evacuated from their homes near the Uixó Valley as the forest fire swept towards homes. More Videos 0 seconds of 31 secondsVolume 90% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke 01:24 Auto360p1080p720p540p360p270p180p 00:00 00:31 00:31 More Videos Close 2 of 6 | Emergency responders have also been helping care for animals caught up in the blazes which have raged across the country and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. 3 of 6 | Burnt vehicles sit outside a charred house in Navas del Rey, west of Madrid, Spain, where Wildfires have forced tens of thousands to be evacuated, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) 4 of 6 | Smoke rises from the remains of a tree caught in a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) 5 of 6 | A burnt vehicle sits outside a charred house in Navas del Rey, west of Madrid, Spain, where Wildfires have forced tens of thousands to be evacuated, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) 6 of 6 | A firefighter rests inside a fire engine in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, where Wildfires have forced tens of thousands to be evacuated, Sunday, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) By ALICIA LEÓN and TERESA MEDRANO Updated 8:05 PM MESZ, July 26, 2026 Leer en español Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit VILLAVICIOSA DE ODÓN, Spain (AP) — Elvira Menéndez knows how lucky she is that her house is not a charred ruin like so many others in Spain and France devastated by deadly Wildfires. But the 79-year-old retiree can’t help but worry for another family that, like her, fled the raging inferno. “They have been left with nothing,” said about a young family that lives down her son’s street. “The house has completely burned down, and they have three children.” The Wildfires that have raged out of control in recent days in three provinces in central Spain have ravaged tens of thousands of hectares and forced nearly 90,000 people to flee their homes. In the southwest of France, more than 250,000 people have fled their homes as the fire rages through the wine region of Bordeaux. For the hundreds of thousands of people in this situation, the question is the same: What will they find when they’re finally allowed to go home, or to what’s left of it? With no word on when she’ll be able to return to Chapinería, her hometown west of the Spanish capital of Madrid, Menéndez will spend her third night on Sunday at the makeshift shelter set up in a sports complex in Villaviciosa de Odón, a 40-minute drive from the home she was forced to leave as the blaze neared. “At least we’re all together,” said Menéndez, who is at the shelter with her family and their dog. More than 200,000 people flee raging Wildfires in France and Spain, some escaping by boat 3 MIN READ Hundreds of firefighters battle wildfire in southern Spain that killed at least 12 3 MIN READ Wildfire forces Tour de France to ban fans from stage finale as parts of Europe sizzle again 3 MIN READ On Friday afternoon, two major fires near Madrid merged into a single, rapidly spreading blaze. It later combined with another that was already burning in Ávila, north of the capital. This forced the government to declare a national fire emergency for the first time. Since then, the flames have also spread to Toledo, a province southwest. In all, the flames have scorched 77,000 hectares in the central part of the country alone. Menéndez’s anguish was shared by Rocío Domínguez, who fled her house with only the clothes on her back. “All the clothes, all the memories, everything, everything, everything,” were left behind, she told The Associated Press. “The only thing I had time to grab was a kit I have for the dogs,” Domínguez added, surrounded by her two beloved pets. Everything else she has with her now — from the clothes she wears to her food and toiletries — she received at the shelter. At the evacuation center, where cots have been set up for about 200 people, Domínguez still has the terrifying memory of their escape fresh in her mind. “It was madness with cars going up and down, traffic jams in the village streets as people tried to get out. It looked like the apocalypse,” told Domínguez, 35 years old and unemployed, who is with her parents and siblings. “You couldn’t see anything.” “Everything was covered in ash,” she added. “You could see all the burned animals.” Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia heard more of those personal testimonies on Sunday as the royals visited another shelter in Villamartín, about 45 kilometers west of Madrid. And those stories may not be the last — Spain’s Minister of Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, later noted that “more evacuations are still expected” in that area. Queen Letizia told reporters after meeting with the survivors that it was important “to hear how they feel and how they recount their hasty departure from their home. How they have felt the sadness they describe, the anguish, the uncertainty, and those questions they leave hanging in the air,. Wildfire brought tragedy on the heels of Spain’s World Cup The Wildfires have significantly shifted the mood in the country, where just a week ago huge crowds of people took to the streets to celebrate their second FIFA World Cup triumph. As the echoes of those celebrations fade, head coach Luis de la Fuente — one of the driving forces behind the historic victory over Argentina in the final in New Jersey — visited those affected by the fires at a sports center in Las Rozas. The Spanish Football Federation, which has its headquarters in the same city, has offered the facilities where the newly crowned world champions usually train for the vulnerable families who have been forced to evacuate from their homes. The coach said all of Spain is rallying for the wildfire survivors. “All of Spain is watching over them,” De la Fuente said in remarks to the national public broadcaster, TVE. “They have the support of the entire country, the same support we have when we play soccer. It’s exactly the same.”