Seven dead and charred roe deer. Some, thrown down trying to escape the fire, stain the asphalt red where the ash lands. Others, bloated in the middle of the mountain on the burnt ground, with wide eyes in their desperate flight from the fire. The trees couldn’t even try: the carbonized giants, several fallen on the road, still smoke and contribute to the immense gray cloud that has covered the south of Ávila since the horror began in Burgohondo on Wednesday. The flames have ravaged the Iruelas Valley, of high ecological value, before the helplessness of the residents, furious at the lack of resources, and overwhelmed firefighters: “It was a column of black smoke as if tires were burning.” It was, simply, nature being destroyed.
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The brigade members have had a horrible night. The orange, fast walls swallowed the forests and in a matter of minutes reached El Tiemblo (4,600 inhabitants, more in summer). Many more flanks compromised the operation, whose members changed shifts at dawn. One of them states that from so much excitement and work he hasn’t even been able to sleep: he has spent three hours staring at the ceiling. Another colleague claims it was the worst night of her life. Another, with six years of experience, assures that he had never seen anything similar, and that each summer surpasses the previous ones in critical episodes. Nor such simultaneity, with serious fires in Ávila, the Community of Madrid, León, Guadalajara or Segovia in recent dates, which has worn out the devices: more hours and more fragmentation, with many brigades from one side acting in another until they are required at their original point.
In their area, at least, the wind helped, contained the advance of the fire and they were able to cut off one of the flanks. In the Iruelas Valley they were not so lucky and everything was scorched. The firefighter compares the smoke to burning tires and recites definitions that even fall short. Apocalyptic, demented, tragedy. The man interrupts himself when, while talking to the journalist, he sees on television that the front is pointing towards Nava del Rey or Colmenar (Madrid). He sobs: “That’s where I grew up…”. He struggles to finish the sentence: “…If the fire gets in there, there won’t be anyone left.”
The tears in El Tiemblo are of rage and fury. There are scorched plots, with black walls, gardens and orchards. The fire entered the town and not all residents wanted to leave: they saw no personnel and decided to contain it as best they could. Two men are indignant at the official machinery parked on an adjacent plot, unused. There are two overgrown plots, between the houses, where an ember or a spark could restart the chaos that would prevent the bulldozer from clearing it in a matter of minutes. One of the residents of Ávila exclaims that a friend fled from the Civil Guard even with the agent clinging to the window: he was not going to allow his land to burn. “We are getting tired and at this rate we are going to start taking justice into our own hands,” they threaten. “There was nothing, my house is burning up there, that fire didn’t get here because last night we were here like poor souls with a hose,” one of them fumes. Another recalls the DANA of 2024 and the institutional discredit: “They are dogs, what happened in Valencia is happening, yesterday I almost ran over a civil guard when he was kicking me out.” “If this happens again, there will be trouble,” they say goodbye.
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The discourse against the Administrations is repeated everywhere. Gregorio Moreno, a retired forest agent, his throat breaks from the mixture of desperation and the ash that permeates the air and clothes. “What a disaster! Before, fires were put out with a hoe, now with planes and resources everything burns. There are not enough people, no one has come, who manages this? To unemployment without pay!” This was managed by the Junta de Castilla y León (PP), competent in forest management until last midnight when the maximum level, 3, was decreed, by which the State takes command although the resources remain the same. Another firefighter describes the horror of the last hours and criticizes the intermediate commanders, such as inexperienced forest agents who send the crews into danger. “In Burgohondo these days there have almost been two entrapments, a truck was passed over and under by the fire,” he recounts. Broken windows, melted rearview mirrors and scorched sheet metal. The worst, the human damage: injured colleagues even when they protected themselves under the vehicle.
This firefighter adds that beyond the terrible environmental conditions, endemic drought and general lack of prevention, there are incomprehensible decisions: on Wednesday, with several outbreaks in Ávila and hell brewing, they were kept inactive at the base for eight hours. As if there were hands to spare. “We want to know why two days ago when the fire was starting they didn’t let us out, we were eager but the crew stayed at the base playing badminton and doing silly things,” he concludes.
A firefighter has sent EL PAÍS a list of incomplete resources of the Junta in the province. He did so a few days ago, before this fire. According to guild calculations, out of 36 rangers, about 12 are missing due to sick leave and unfilled positions, the same with fire engines: about nine out of 44 are missing and three of their bases have no electricity or accommodation.
