Fire forces evacuation of Madrid’s Torre Moeve; 2,000 workers escape unharmed in orderly drill-like response

The fire and evacuation

A fire broke out around 17:00 on Tuesday in a technical room between the 23rd and 25th floors of Torre Moeve, the 248-metre, 49-storey skyscraper in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres business area. Dense black smoke, visible from much of the capital, prompted the immediate activation of the building’s fire protocol. The alarm sounded roughly five minutes after the fire started, and the entire tower was evacuated in approximately 18 minutes. Three employees who were temporarily confined on the 27th floor were later confirmed safe, and two workers were treated on site for mild smoke inhalation. One passerby required attention for an anxiety reaction. No one was taken to hospital.

Emergency response

Four fire engines attended the scene, and firefighters had the blaze under control by shortly after 18:00. Madrid’s emergency services deployed drones to monitor the situation and kept in contact with the three confined workers throughout. Police cordoned off the area and managed the crowd of evacuees and onlookers. The building houses offices for Moeve (the energy company formerly known as Cepsa), Amazon Web Services, law firms Pérez‑Llorca and Gómez Acebo & Pombo, and travel company Expedia.

Workers’ experience

Many employees initially thought the alert was another routine drill, given the frequency of evacuation exercises in the tower.

“Two minutes after it started smelling strongly of burning, the alarm went off.”

Workers descended stairwells from as high as the 31st floor without panic.

“It was very fast. Colleagues said it smelled strongly of burning and within five minutes the alarm sounded. We went down the stairs in an orderly way.”

Some workers reported hearing a loud explosion from outside the building, but those inside said they heard nothing unusual. After the all‑clear, staff were allowed back into the building to retrieve personal belongings and vehicles; Moeve instructed its own employees to work remotely until further notice.

The tower and its ownership

Designed by Norman Foster, the tower was inaugurated in 2009 as the headquarters of Caja Madrid, later passing to Bankia. Since a €490 million purchase in 2016, the building has been owned by Pontegadea, the investment vehicle of Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex. It currently carries the Moeve branding following the energy company’s 2024–2026 global rebrand. Ortega’s real estate portfolio also includes the nearby Torre Picasso.

Precedent

This is the second fire at the tower in six months. In December 2025, a small blaze caused by an electrical transformer led to a similar evacuation and a brief power cut. The rapid, orderly response on Tuesday was attributed by employees to the many drills conducted since that earlier incident.