Desolation permeates the Sierra Norte natural park, in Guadalajara, which since last Friday (six days!) has been devoured by flames. More than 32,000 hectares have burned (these are estimates, until it is extinguished, the burned area cannot be reliably verified, forest agents clarify), a good part of one of the most beautiful and unknown natural areas of Spain, mainly due to its proximity to Madrid, which always turns nearby regions into transit points.
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The evacuated inhabitants of the 34 municipalities (mostly villages) affected by what they will find when they return are crying. Some of the 1,200 are housed in the Humanes sports center, although most have been accommodated in relatives’ homes, a good part in Madrid. Because all this land lost its people, who emigrated to the Madrid region, in search of job opportunities that farming and livestock did not offer. But many kept their ancestors’ homes, where they return for holidays, for their festivals, and when they retire.
In the Humanes sports center, a small group of neighbors, with an average age of 70 and each from a different village, comment on the latest news. All of them cannot hide the enormous fear they feel of finding their homes consumed by the flames. Because they trust that day will come soon, as yesterday all the firefighting teams worked tirelessly to stabilize the fire before the wind, expected for today, arrives again.
Antonio, glued to his mobile phone, insists that “the houses are fine, only a couple of industrial warehouses have burned down.” Every day he goes to the small village hotel where firefighting technicians sometimes stop. And there he gets informed.
“When the old people return to their homes, they are going to die, because those houses will have ceased to be theirs”
For his chair companion, the important thing is to be alive, that no one has died, as happened in Saelices (Guadalajara), in Alto Tajo, where 11 members of the Cogolludo fire brigade died in 2005. Two decades later, this land falls into hell again.
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Encarna, who has gone up to the sports center to see if the relocated people need anything, grieves for the oldest, men and women of 90 years old, who are the majority. They have been transferred to the Humanes residence. “When they return, they are going to die. Because their houses will have ceased to be theirs, they will belong to the fire, even if they are not burned. Everything black, outside and inside. Ash, smoke, an odor that won’t go away for months, and desolation. They won’t be able to bear it!”
Her words lift spirits and they begin to direct their criticism at the person or people responsible for this colossal destruction. The initial investigations point to the mayor of Robledillo and his harvester. And the group of relocated people grows, while anger rises. There are those who speak of an “accident,” because “the lad was harvesting during the hours set by the Junta and with a small tractor with water, as established by the regulations.” Ranchers and farmers gathered the day after the fire in Tamajón in support of him.
But others, the majority, are suspicious due to the change of version from the aforementioned person, known for being against the measures established by the Junta regarding fire risk. “Let’s hope he complied with those rules he rejected, because he faces very serious crimes. It’s time to stop believing that things have no consequences,” says Antonio. A woman next to him cannot suppress her anger against those who deny climate change, extreme conditions, the risks it brings, many of them, she says, farmers and ranchers: “Well, we no longer have forest, nor cereal fields, nor pasture for animals. Their denial kills.”
Neighbors demand accountability for their actions from those who violate authorities’ rules
It’s lunchtime and the relocated people get up. The outlook they face is desolate, but they are very grateful for the attention received from the members of the Red Cross who assist them in everything (“they even bought us clothes”), to Civil Protection, to the Civil Guard, to the firefighters, to the UME, to the mayors, to Page (president of Castilla-La Mancha), to Pedro Sánchez, yesterday in Tamajón…“We feel that we are not alone today. We hope that when the fire goes out, they will still be there,” they say.
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