AmeliaJane, you echo the concern I raised last night (about a drop in elevation between the runway and its runoff beyond the end) and the strip of 'nothing' between the runway and its parallel counterpart. Even on Google Maps you can see that it is relatively rocky terrain with one map by a Spanish site showing the two streams that cross it. One apparently saved some of the passengers flung out of the plane.
As OFSO also points out, any major city with an airport in countries with very dry weather (where grass can suddenly go up in flames purely thanks to a shard of glass) will have some sort of well-planned emergency response to a major brush/bush fire. South Africa for example is also very well-prepared for this, especially considering that in winter there is generally no rain to speak of and high-speed winds can tear across the countryside, carrying fire very quickly across a very large expanse of terrain.
So the response by Madrid emergency authorities was well-executed.
S.