Wildfire journal

What is burning, where, and what it means for the homes below it.

Reports on fires across the Costa del Sol and Europe, written as they happen and revisited once the data lands. Every figure is sourced and linked.

Season dataMarbella, Spain· 13 September 2026

Wildfire Situation Update: 13th September 2026

European wildfire activity remains elevated compared to historical averages, with significant areas burned in Spain. While major global incidents are geographically distant, the underlying conditions necessitate continued vigilance for Costa del Sol homeowners.

Read the report →

Live incident13 September 2026

Benahavís confined as a wind-driven wildfire runs through the Ermita del Rosario hills

A fast-moving fire above Benahavís forced the confinement of the town, the evacuation of Montemayor Alto and the deployment of around twenty firefighting aircraft.

Benahavís, Málaga · 4 min read

Explainer12 September 2026

If a wildfire reaches your area: a checklist for Costa del Sol homeowners

What an ES-Alert means, what confinement means, and what to do with your house in the hour before you leave it.

Costa del Sol · 5 min read

Explainer10 September 2026

Which Costa del Sol urbanisations sit in the wildfire interface

A plain guide to why hillside developments between Málaga and Sotogrande carry a different level of risk from the same house on the beachfront.

Costa del Sol · 5 min read

Season data8 September 2026

Spain 2026: 265,000 hectares, 7,431 fires and 44 major incidents

Official figures for the 2026 season — and why a year that looks better than 2025 is still far worse than normal.

Spain · 4 min read

Season dataSeptember 2026

The 2026 European fire season, in numbers

More than 1,000 fires and around 540,000 hectares burned across the EU since mid-June, with over 300,000 people displaced in Spain and France alone.

European Union · 4 min read

Case studyLooking back

Sierra Bermeja, 2021: the fire that showed what the hills behind Marbella can do

Nearly 10,000 hectares burned across Estepona, Genalguacil, Jubrique and Benahavís in a sixth-generation fire that could not be fought by conventional means.

Sierra Bermeja, Málaga · 5 min read

Live incident26 August 2026

Nerja: eight aircraft and a closed road on the other side of Málaga

The 26 August fire in the Axarquía is a reminder that the risk is not confined to the western Costa del Sol.

Nerja, Málaga · 3 min read

ExplainerAugust 2026

How houses actually burn in a wildfire

Embers, not flame fronts, destroy most homes. Understanding the sequence explains why water placed early on a roof matters more than anything else.

Global · 5 min read

Season data14 August 2026

Rescued from the beach: Europe's summer of wildfire evacuations

Halkidiki, Croatia, Provence and central Spain — 2026 was the year tourists left Mediterranean resorts by boat.

Southern Europe · 4 min read

Case studyJuly 2026

Los Gallardos, Almería: Andalusia's deadliest wildfire

Thirteen people died in a July 2026 fire that moved through esparto grass and low scrub near the N-340A — proof that catastrophic fire does not need forest.

Los Gallardos, Almería · 4 min read

Case study9 July 2026

Ten weeks earlier: the July fire that emptied Los Flamingos and Parque Botánico

On 9 July 2026 a fire on the Estepona–Benahavís boundary forced around a thousand people out of some of the Costa del Sol's most expensive urbanisations and briefly closed the AP-7.

Benahavís & Estepona, Málaga · 4 min read

Watching a fire near your property right now?

Our live map shows active fire detections and burned areas across Europe.

Open live map Book a survey