THE year’s first major wildfire has ripped through northern Spain, torching 1,500 acres of woodland and forcing the evacuation of an elderly resident.
Dramatic footage shows towering flames tearing across the Serra do Galleiro mountains around Pontevedra, in Galicia, fuelled by 30-degree heat and gusting winds.
The blaze erupted at around 2:45pm on Monday after a tractor caught fire, authorities have said – though investigators are also probing a second ignition point believed to be ‘clearly intentional.’
One home was evacuated as a precaution in the town of Padrons after officials declared a Level 2 alert, triggering a massive emergency response involving dozens of ground crews, five helicopters, and six water-bombing aircraft.
The fast-moving inferno was finally brought under control shortly after midnight on Tuesday, according to the Galician government.
The dramatic scenes are an eerie echo of Spain’s devastating 2025 summer fire season – one of the worst in living memory.
Last year’s inferno unfolded between July and August, as relentless heatwaves gripped the country and turned vast swathes of countryside into tinderboxes.
By mid-August alone, more than 400,000 hectares (nearly one million acres) had been reduced to ash, making it Spain’s worst wildfire season in over 30 years.
Dozens of major blazes tore through provinces including Ourense, Leon and Zamora, while thousands of people were forced to flee their homes as flames closed in on towns and villages.
READ MORE: Climbing banned in Madrid park until August to protect birds of prey during breeding season
Experts described the scale as extraordinary and unprecedented, with 2025 officially ranking as Spain’s worst fire season in decades and among the most destructive of the 21st century.
According to researchers, such extreme fire weather has become dramatically more likely due to global warming – with hotter, drier, and more volatile conditions turning once-rare mega-fires into an increasingly common threat across southern Europe.
Click here to read more Green News from The Olive Press.
