ITALY PERSPECTIVE

Rome, July 11, 2026. The death toll from the fire that ravaged the Andalusian town of Los Gallardos, in the province of Almería, is mounting by the hour: at least twelve dead, eight injured including four in critical condition, about twenty missing, and nearly 1,400 people evacuated, according to figures reported by the ANSA agency. The fire, which started on Thursday evening from a fallen power line along the N-340A road, transformed "into a 15-kilometer front in less than two hours," explained the President of the Andalusian Junta, Juanma Moreno, under the effect of gusts exceeding 50 km/h and vegetation dried out by weeks of extreme heat.

The regional councilor for Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, described the episode as "a fire with the most severe consequences ever recorded" in the region, evoking "a tragedy without precedent." Most of the victims, found in their vehicles near the hamlet of Bédar, are foreign nationals: four Britons died in a right-hand drive car while trying to flee, while a group including a Spaniard and a Belgian, who set out on foot after abandoning their vehicles, had only two survivors. "They found themselves trapped in a ring of fire," Antonio Sanz summarized, specifying that they had taken a route that was not planned for evacuation.

At this stage, no Italian nationals are among the recorded victims, but the Farnesina, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, indicates that it is closely following the evolution of the situation. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his "deep sadness" on social media.

In Italy, the Andalusian tragedy resonates with the country's climate news: Florence and Perugia remain under red heat wave alert, while a fire has already destroyed over 600 hectares in the Val d'Ossola, in Piedmont, forcing the evacuation of 120 inhabitants due to unbearable air quality. The World Health Organization warned this week that Europe was "not prepared" to face these repeated heat waves, as Germany has already recorded over 5,000 heat-related deaths this year. For Rome, the Spanish drama illustrates a risk that is now continental, where heat waves and forest fires are simultaneously affecting several countries in the Mediterranean basin.