‘The breath just went out of us’: people return to their homes after wildfires near Madrid

A man walks past burnt-out cars after the wildfire in Navas del Rey, about 50km (30 miles) west of Madrid. Photograph: Pablo Blázquez Domínguez/Getty Images

The handwritten sign taped to the front gate of a house in the mountains an hour west of Madrid offered as succinct a summary of recent events as you will find.

“EMPTY,” it said. “No people or animals here.”