Technology and Science12 July, 20263 min read
Spain Wildfires Kill British Couple Pete And Fran Gillam As DNA Identifies Victims
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13 people killed in Almería wildfires, including Britons among foreign victims. Bedar village in Almería heavily affected by the fires.
DNA ID as deaths rise
Wildfires in Spain killed 13 people, including a British couple, Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in Bédar and were confirmed dead by their family after authorities raced to use DNA to identify victims who were unable to escape the blaze. The Guardian reported that relatives of those missing were asked to provide DNA samples because many victims were so badly burned they could not otherwise be recognised, and Spanish authorities said on Monday that five British nationals were among the 13 people confirmed to have died. France 24 said emergency services initially recovered 12 bodies that were so badly disfigured that genetic samples were needed to identify them, and it reported that firefighters continued to work to extinguish the fire after it scorched about 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of forest and scrubland.
France 24 also reported that cooler temperatures and calmer winds allowed firefighters to tame the blaze over the weekend, allowing some 1,500 evacuated residents to return home. The BBC added that Malcolm Timbrell, 70, told the BBC outside his destroyed home high on the hillside that he became separated from his wife Annette Kilgore, 69, and that bodies of eight people were subsequently discovered on a path down from the couple's house.
Voices on rescue and blame
Malcolm Timbrell, speaking to the BBC outside his destroyed home, described how he tried to escape by car but chose to head back for his cats, Charlie and Lilly, and said, "If we'd have done the sensible thing and gone the other way and let our cats die, we both would be alive."
The BBC also quoted Malcolm on the speed of the fire wall, saying he had "subsequently heard that that fire wall was moving at 20 kilometres per hour, plus," and it reported that he survived inside the last of six cars after four instantly combusted.
In a separate account, The Guardian quoted Penelope Howe, 54, saying her friend’s husband died when flames engulfed his car during the evacuation of the Los Gallardos area of Almería province, and Howe said, "They were speaking together for the last few minutes. That was how it ended."
The BBC reported that British expats in Bédar criticised the lack of a mobile phone alert, but it also quoted Malcolm saying, "It's nobody's fault. Nobody can be blamed for this."
Climate risk and prevention
The Guardian linked the disaster to a relentless heatwave across Europe, saying scientists believe the fires were worsened by the climate crisis and quoting Juanma Moreno, the leader of Andalucía’s regional government, saying, "Here climate change is having a very big impact, and we are in a state of climate chaos with situations that are practically unheard of, exceptional and increasingly explosive,". France 24 reported that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged Spain to strengthen its prevention measures during a visit to the disaster zone on Monday, saying, "We must not only react when these fires happen, we must prevent" as climate change makes civil protection emergencies "increasingly frequent". France 24 said the authorities suspect the wildfire began when a power line broke, setting fire to vegetation that had been parched after hot weather that pushed temperatures above 40C, and it reported that the inferno spread at up to 100 metres (330 feet) per minute at its peak last week.
The BBC described how local authorities said four more victims recovered in a right hand drive vehicle were thought to be British, and it reported that not all of those killed had yet been identified while Spanish authorities said three Britons and one national each from France, Belgium and Spain were among the victims. AOL reported that an Andalusian government statement said a 93-year-old British woman died after being taken to hospital on Friday with burns to about 20% of her body, bringing the total number of fatalities from the fires to 13.