Amid applause from volunteers and residents of the municipalities that have hosted them these days. This is how the return home began for the 29,000 people evacuated from 15 municipalities in Madrid and Ávila who yesterday received the good news that the fire is no longer a threat to their lives or their homes.
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In Ávila, the de-escalation occurs in Fresnedilla, Burgohondo, Higuera de las Dueñas, Pedro Bernardo, and southern Navaluenga. In Madrid, Cadalso de los Vidrios, Cenicientos, Navalagamella, Navas del Rey, Rozas de Puerto Real, Aldea del Fresno, Chapinería, and Colmenar del Arroyo.
After five days of relentless fighting against three fires in Madrid, Ávila, and Toledo, which eventually merged into one (in terms of fighting them, not physically), there are positive results. The race against time carried out on Monday night by hundreds of personnel finally showed “positive progress,” said the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande Marlaska, who could not hide his joy.
Additionally, the confinement of several municipalities in Madrid and Ávila, which had kept about 28,000 people locked in their homes, is lifted. These include Villa del Prado, except for the Encinar del Alberche urbanization, which remains evacuated, and San Martín de Valdeiglesias, except for the Costa de Madrid, San Ramón, Javacruz, La Javariega, and Veracruz urbanizations, which remain evacuated, in Madrid. And central Navaluenga and Navas del Marqués, in Ávila.
But this has not been the only improvement. On the Toledo front, Castilla-La Mancha has regained control of the extinguishing efforts after exiting the national emergency, which now only includes Madrid and Ávila. Restrictions are lifted in the only two evacuated municipalities of the Tiétar Valley and also in the two urbanizations of Almorox.
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The residents of Aldea del Fresno could not hide their joy because they thought it would take several more days to return
Joy broke out in the sports centers of Villamanta and Navalcarnero, which mostly host the residents of Aldea del Fresno. Most had been there since Thursday night.
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At 5 p.m., those who had their own cars took their few belongings and left for their homes, with the immense joy of returning home, showering, sitting on the sofa, sleeping in a bed, recounts María, who has been sleeping in the van since Thursday with her dogs (in this sports center their entry was not allowed, in others, yes). Those without their own vehicle waited for buses arranged for them. The joy was even greater, if possible, because most of the evacuees from these towns thought they still had long days ahead in the sports centers.
Has the war against this mega-fire been won? Absolutely not. There is still much work to do and, worst of all, a new heat wave, a true climate bomb, that could undo the progress. But, well, “day by day,” says one of the workers at the La Muni bar, who has been serving the residents for a week.
The Minister of Environment, Agriculture, and Interior of the Community of Madrid, Carlos Novillo, has assured that the evolution of the large fire in the Sierra Oeste allows for “optimism,” but insists that a situation of “maximum alert” remains due to adverse weather forecasts for the coming days.
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The firefighting services manage to contain the fire, but the situation is of maximum alert
The situation is serious, but somewhat less than a few days ago after managing to contain the fire’s advance on Monday night on the northern front of the San Juan reservoir, near Valdemaqueda, which was the most concerning for emergency services. “At this moment we are containing the fire; stabilization is still in the future, hopefully soon,” said the minister, who noted that the fronts of Casillas and Mijares, in the province of Ávila, are also evolving favorably.
The joyful faces of those who set out for home this Tuesday contrasted with those who still cannot return, like Patri, a resident of Zarzalejos. She has been staying since Friday with her children, her two dogs, and her two cats, in the sports center of Alcalá de Henares. “You can’t even imagine how much I want to go home. This is a nightmare that seems endless,” she laments. But surely it does have an end.
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