MADRID, July 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Spanish firefighters on Friday were bringing under control a forest fire near Madrid that had cloaked the capital in a huge cloud of acrid smoke.

The blaze that broke out on Thursday around 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of the city had burned 3,100 hectares (7,660 acres), the Madrid region's leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso wrote on X.

More than 100 firefighters and the Spanish army's emergencies unit were deployed on the ground and in the air to extinguish the flames.

"The fire is now contained," Madrid's emergency services agency said, warning that the wind forecast for Friday "could make the work difficult".

Madrid's civil protection authority advised people to stay indoors on Thursday as the gigantic cloud of orange and grey smoke hung over the city, recommending masks to avoid inhaling ash.

Normality was returning on Friday in the municipalities closest to the fire, with a major motorway reopened and clear skies in Madrid.

Although the cause of the fire is unknown, Spain is experiencing hotter summers stoked by human-induced climate change, which increases the length, frequency and intensity of wildfires.

More than 25,000 hectares have burned so far this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.