Spain’s Ministry of the Interior moved swiftly overnight to escalate the response to the huge wildfires that have been raging since 22 July in the Sierra Oeste of Madrid and neighbouring Ávila. At 22:30 on 24 July Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska signed an emergency order placing the blazes under the State-level Plan 3 (Emergencia Nacional), a mechanism that allows central government to assume command when regional resources are overwhelmed. It is only the second time Spain has activated this highest tier of civil-protection response, the first being the nationwide blackout of April 2025. By dawn on 25 July more than 3,000 central-government personnel were deployed: 1,201 troops from the Military Emergency Unit, over 1,100 Guardia Civil and Protección Civil officers, 220 Policía Nacional riot-control agents and 20 state aircraft. The president, Pedro Sánchez, and Madrid’s regional leader, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, visited the new advanced command post in Navalcarnero, where Sánchez confirmed that the two main fire fronts will now be fought as a single incident to optimise logistics. The combined perimeter already exceeds 200 km and an estimated 45,000 hectares have burned. The immediate mobility impact is severe. DGT reported the closure of 35 roads (eight of them key regional highways such as the M-501 and M-531), forcing long detours for freight moving between Madrid and the Portuguese border and disrupting coach operators that serve industrial parks in the south-west corridor. Renfe cancelled regional rail services on the Madrid-Extremadura line between Móstoles and Talavera and advised passengers to postpone non-essential travel. Barajas airport remains open, but airlines have warned of possible diversions if wind shifts push smoke plumes towards approach paths. For corporate travel managers the priority is real-time itinerary monitoring. Companies with posted workers in Madrid’s outer municipalities have activated contingency housing plans and are advising staff to work remotely until air-quality alerts are lifted; the Ministry of Health urges FFP2 masks outdoors in the metropolitan area. Insurers remind employers that Spain’s compulsory occupational-risk cover extends to evacuations ordered by Protección Civil but requires written confirmation within 72 hours. Looking ahead, executives with summer incentive trips or expatriate relocations into central Spain should expect sporadic road-blocks and rail suspensions until at least early August. Logistics providers warn that the detours add 90 minutes to the Madrid-Lisbon trucking corridor, potentially delaying time-critical exports. Multinationals should update travel-risk assessments and confirm that local ground handlers have alternative routing ready.
Source: Agencia EFE
