The town of El Tiemblo in Ávila (4,500 inhabitants), one of the most affected by the fire ravaging the south of Ávila, lives in tension. The Civil Guard has confined the municipality, where there are dozens of evacuees who prefer to spend the days in other towns to avoid the anguish and smoke. The fire that devastated the upper part of the municipality last Wednesday, with much of the neighborhood displaced to nearby Cebreros, has already passed, but new flames are feared: in the forest, with huge and dry pine groves, some active spots continue advancing towards a valuable chestnut grove where dozens of neighbors, in combination with firefighters, are trying to contain it. Chaos multiplies due to the scarcity of communications, as there are hardly any Internet lines and phone coverage, while better weather conditions are awaited that do not occur.
Ash accumulates on the sidewalks where neighbors sweep the embers flying from the neighboring forests. Young people have taken to the forest, with livestock water barrels and makeshift tools, with the idea of plugging the outbreaks that keep occurring in the groves. One of the residents in the town explains that the goal is to save the centenary chestnut trees: “The chestnut grove, bad, the people of the town were not handling it and now we are in Valdesanmartin where the one from San Martín is coming this way.” This Monday there has been hardly any wind, whose erratic gusts in recent days have disturbed the professionals and volunteers who accompany them, as when they wanted to realize it the flank would deviate or accelerate where they did not expect.
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El Tiemblo has a space set up in an industrial warehouse area where the population is being informed about how to proceed, as well as supplying provisions or resources to those in difficulty. The Civil Guard has deployed in several surrounding towns to communicate with the people of El Tiemblo who are sleeping outside their localities. An officer has entered a hotel in Cebreros, where some families from El Tiemblo have settled these days, to inform them that the local sports center of that municipality will be enabled so they can relocate there, if they wish, unless they decide to stay in this accommodation or look for alternatives, although there is little room for road movement. Several police patrols have been deployed on the roads to control traffic and prevent car traffic through delicate areas, with a lot of smoke or potential fire impact.
