Grieving British families demand answers after Spain wildfire kills 15

Relatives of British victims are furious after Andalusian politicians blocked an official inquiry into the wildfire that tore through the hillside village of Bédar on 9 July. The governing People's Party and the far-right Vox joined forces in the regional parliament to reject the opposition Socialists' demand for a commission of inquiry, arguing an ongoing criminal probe will deliver the answers. The families call that a dodge — and they want a public, transparent reckoning.

The toll was brutal. Fifteen people died in Bédar, in the province of Almería in south-eastern Spain, and 14 of them were foreign nationals: nine Britons, three Belgians, one French citizen and one American. It was the deadliest single fire in Spain this summer and one of the worst in the country's history.

Much of the anger centres on a warning that never came. Andalusia's emergencies chief, Antonio Sanz, said the region skipped the system that pushes emergency alerts to mobile phones because it could not be tailored to specific communities, and officials argued an alert could have sparked panic and traffic jams. Families aren't buying it. Duncan Chard, who lost his father Michael and Michael's partner Christine, told the BBC his dad would still be alive had the evacuation warning arrived in time. Michael, who used a walking stick after two artificial knee replacements, fled with Christine by car after leaving behind phones and passports — the road was blocked.

Belgian virologist Thomas-Wolf Verdonckt was on the phone to his father Stanislas, 63, as the flames closed in. He says victims got no guidance and no danger warnings, and that the authorities' claim of adequate warning is simply untrue — the only contact came minutes before the fire engulfed them, when a police car drove past with sirens and no message. Sanz drew a backlash days after the blaze for appearing to blame victims who left at the last minute and 'took the wrong path'.

Then there's the aftermath. Danni Gillam-Kirton, an assistant headteacher from Nottinghamshire who lost her parents Pete and Fran, says police told her their car had been meticulously searched and no belongings survived. In August she and her husband found what looked like human bones — possibly part of a pelvis — along with her parents' phones, jewellery, keys and money in the burnt-out shell. The fragments went to Madrid for testing; police now say no DNA was recovered and the bones were an animal's, but a forensic anthropologist who worked on the Grenfell Tower investigation reportedly believes they were human. Gillam-Kirton says her complaint to the Guardia Civil drew only a reply referring to 'the death of your relative' — singular — when she lost both parents.

The cause remains under criminal investigation. In July the Guardia Civil said a fallen power line was believed to have started the fire, also known as the Los Gallardos fire, but that explanation has since been questioned. The BBC has also seen a letter in which the Andalusian government refused Socialist MPs' request for its official reports on the fire, including documents explaining why no alert was sent. Bédar's emergency plan was last approved in 2019 and officials say it was being updated; the area is officially classified as at risk from wildfires. The Andalusian government, the PP, Vox and the Guardia Civil have all been approached for comment.