Daughter of UK couple killed in Spanish wildfire demands probe into late evacuation
Danielle Kirton says her parents obeyed every instruction before dying in a Bédar blaze, and is pressing the UK foreign secretary to force Spain to explain why its emergency alert system was never activated.
The daughter of a British couple killed while fleeing a wildfire in southern Spain has called on Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to press Madrid for a full investigation into why the official emergency alert was never triggered before it was too late.
Danielle Kirton, 42, an assistant headteacher from Nottinghamshire, also rejected suggestions by Spanish politicians that victims of the Bédar fire had ignored evacuation instructions. "My parents did not ignore instructions," she said. "It is a weak and cowardly act to blame victims in the face of tragedy."
Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in the village of Bédar in Almería, died in mid-July as flames swept through the settlement. They were among 13 people killed, many of whom perished in their cars while trying to escape. The deaths came amid severe wildfires that have burned across Spain and France since early July, destroying thousands of homes and displacing more than 300,000 people.
A three-hour gap
According to Kirton, the fire alert was issued at 4.30pm, but the evacuation order did not arrive for more than three hours. When it came, it was delivered by a single police officer driving frantically from house to house. Spain's official emergency alert system, which broadcasts a loud tone to mobile phones instructing residents to evacuate, was never activated.
Kirton said her mother sent a video at 6.45pm showing flames still a considerable distance from their hillside home, and at 7.53pm messaged to confirm they had begun evacuating. The couple stopped at a neighbour's driveway to warn them, then became trapped when fire jumped both sides of the road.
"She was just waiting to be told what to do," Kirton said of her mother, a retired headteacher who had a bag packed and ready.
A contrast that sharpens the question
Kirton pointed to subsequent wildfires elsewhere in Spain, where the emergency alert system was deployed and no civilian deaths were recorded. "It would appear that somewhere within that system there has been a failure," she said. "The biggest difference is the emergency alert was used in subsequent wildfires."
Scientists have linked the severity of this summer's fires to the climate crisis, which has intensified heatwaves across southern Europe. For Kirton, that makes understanding the Bédar failures urgent. "It's vital for planning for the future that we see what exactly were the contributing factors in this case," she said.
London's response under scrutiny
Kirton described the Foreign Office's initial assistance as a "slap in the face," saying the consulate sent only a web link titled "What to do when someone dies abroad." She is now urging Miliband, who has been visiting France and Spain to discuss wildfires and the climate crisis, to use his position to secure a thorough Spanish inquiry.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said any investigation into the fire response was a matter for the Spanish government, but confirmed that Miliband had raised the issue with his Spanish counterpart during a visit to Madrid on Wednesday. The two discussed how the UK could support Spain's response and agreed that "lessons must be learned as climate change makes these dangerous wildfires more likely," the spokesperson said.
The Andalusian government has been contacted for comment.
