The fires in the parched countryside have forced 35,000 people to flee their homes, the interior ministry said, in what officials have called the region’s worst fire on record.

Thick grey smoke filled the sky west of the capital and the smell of burning reached the streets of central Madrid, itching residents’ throats and forcing them to keep their windows closed.

“Our priority, our thinking, our aim is for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas,” Sanchez told reporters in the village of Cenicientos in the fire zone.

“We are going to have some complex hours ahead because although the temperatures have gone down, we do not know exactly how the wind will develop, how strong it will be.”

In the town of Brunete, local mayor Mar Nicolas told AFP she was “very worried for the residents who are suffering from these terrible fires”.

“Every year there are fires, but this one has been tremendous,” she said. “It is a catastrophe.”