Outdoor fire
Details
This is an expired event!
Event title
Spain - Spain wildfires: Fire rips Costa del Sol filled with Brits - homes evacuated
Source
Severity
Mid
Event date (UTC)
2026-09-14 13:09:00
Last update (UTC)
2026-09-14 13:09:01
Area range
City / district wide event
Address/Affected area(s)
Benahavís, Provincia de Málaga, Andalucía
Three people were injured in a wildfire that broke out near a holiday resort popular with British tourists, as many were forced to evacuate.
The fire broke out near luxury homes in Spain’s Costa del Sol beach resorts on Sunday. The blaze started outside Benahavís, a resort in Andalusia, emergency services said.
It is understood that one person was injured due to burns while trying to extinguish the fire, while another, a forest firefighter, suffered trauma after a fall.
The nearby Montemayor Alto area was evacuated, authorities said.
The blaze spread rapidly due to strong winds of 30-50km/h. Residents were urged to close their doors and windows and wear face masks if they could not avoid going out.
The cause of the fire, which is visible from other towns on the Costa del Sol, is currently unknown.
In July and August, Spain and France were hit by several wildfires as temperatures reached 42°C during a series of heatwaves.
The blazes tore through vast areas of woodland, destroyed hundreds of homes and forced the evacuation of around 280,000 people across the two countries.
In southwestern France, the wildfire near Bordeaux has burned through 103,000 acres in just six days, destroyed 240 houses, and driven 220,000 people from their homes.
Nearly 4,000 more people were also told to leave campsites, tourist residences, holiday villages and leisure parks in the two countries as authorities continued efforts to prevent further destruction.
Portugal, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were also affected. Portugal remained on high alert after flames swept through the northern district of Braga in recent months, while in Italy, blazes erupted in popular tourist destinations, including Sicily, Puglia, and Tuscany.