英国夫妇皮特和弗兰·吉拉姆在西班牙阿尔梅里亚地区的一场野火中丧生[1]。他们的女儿丹妮尔·柯顿日前驳斥了西班牙政治人士关于死者忽视疏散指示的说法[1]，转而指责政府在应急程序上存在严重失误[1]。
丹妮尔表示，火灾预警在下午4时30分发布，但疏散令直到7时30分以后才下达，延误超过三小时[1]。更为严重的是，疏散令仅由一名警察挨家传达，官方紧急警报系统未被启用[1]。她援引后续西班牙野火为例说明这一问题的严重性，指出"如果你看后来西班牙发生的野火，没有伤亡，最大的区别就是在随后的野火中使用了紧急警报"[1]。丹妮尔已要求英国外交大臣埃德·米利班德敦促西班牙当局进行全面调查[1]。
The daughter of a British couple who died in a wildfire in Spain's Almería region has disputed accusations that her parents failed to heed evacuation instructions.[1] Danielle Colton rejected claims made by Spanish politicians that Peter and Fran Graham ignored directives to leave, instead pointing to significant delays in the official evacuation process as the critical factor.[1]
A fire alert was issued at 4:30 p.m., yet the formal evacuation order was not issued until after 7:30 p.m., a lag of more than three hours.[1] The evacuation notice was conveyed only through door-to-door visits by a single police officer, with the official emergency alert system never activated.[1] Thirteen people died in the fire.[1]
Danielle has called on British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to press Spanish authorities for a comprehensive investigation.[1] She noted that subsequent wildfires in Spain avoided casualties precisely because they employed the emergency alert system: "My parents didn't ignore instructions. If you look at the Spanish wildfires that happened afterwards, there were no fatalities, and the main difference was that the emergency alert was used in the subsequent fires."[1]
Since early July, wildfires across Spain and France have claimed lives, destroyed thousands of homes, and prompted the evacuation of over 300,000 people.[1]