The Spanish Civil Guard checks that residents have left the vicinity of a fire near Toledo

A giant cloud of acrid smoke caused by a forest fire enveloped Madrid on Thursday in a summer expected to spark increasingly fierce blazes in Spain. The uncontrolled fire in the municipality of Mentrida, around 50 kilometres southwest of the capital, prompted local authorities to urge nearby residents to stay at home and shut their windows.

Madrid's civil protection service advised people to avoid staying outdoors and to use surgical face masks to avoid inhaling the ash, while part of a main motorway leading to the city was closed. More than 150 firefighters were deployed on the ground and in the air to extinguish the fire that began at around 3:00 pm local time, according to the forest fire information service of the central Castilla-La Mancha region.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of the extreme heat that fuels forest fires.

mitv