From my home in Ávila I usually have a splendid view of the ancient town’s medieval walls. But yesterday morning the wind changed direction and they were largely obscured by a pall of wildfire smoke. The town hall issued health advice and recommended closing windows.

But I’m among the fortunate. Everyone in Burgohondo, 25 miles south of Ávila, has been evacuated. It is the village my wife’s family comes from, and where the fire started. Across the region, tens of thousands have already been forced to leave their homes. And the forecast is ominous.

The ‘Burnham bounce’ surely won’t last

Europe is under attack

The tragedy of Gary Stevenson

Last year I suggested that Spain’s summer fires are made so frequent and destructive by long, hot, dry summers and by rural depopulation, with the resulting abandonment of farming and grazing. Inadequate forest management leaves the land dense with highly combustible vegetation. And, of course, politicians repeatedly fail to prepare adequately.

Sure enough, ten months later, as ash settles and sirens wail across Castile-León, it’s all happening again – on a terrifying scale. El País, Spain’s centre-left newspaper of record, ends its solemn editorial with characteristic civic earnestness: ‘The urgent priority now is to extinguish these fires and care for........

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