Members of the forest fire brigade refresh the surroundings of Montán (Castellón) MONICA TORRES this Wednesday
The hours pass slowly in Segorbe, where 90 people affected by the fire inside Castellón have been relocated. The news of a message interrupts the nervous wanderings of Juan Martínez, a resident of Montán, the town closest to the blazes that have already devastated 4,600 hectares. It may be the first time he’s smiled since Thursday afternoon when he left the house with his wife and two girls. He couldn’t get his dog out, Manolo. It didn’t fit. “Six days have passed and I still haven’t heard from my dog,” he says sadly. The news changes his face. It’s a photo of Manolo. “He’s fine, alive,” he announces.
Juan doesn’t know how long it will take to return home. His city is not one of the six population groups that have been allowed to enter since Wednesday afternoon. He’s not doing well either. You feel physically and mentally exhausted. He is on medication and has a blood pressure of 19. That’s why he couldn’t even get on the convoy that went to Montán, accompanied by the Guardia Civil, to feed the animals, which his wife did, who sent him the Proof that Manolo is fine and that the house was not affected by the fire.
The two points where some of the 1,600 displaced people are housed are completely different. In Segorbe, they sleep in the seminary, which has been converted into a hostel, and spend the day in a sports center run by the Red Cross. Most of them are distinguished by their hands. They are robust hands that have been through many hours of sunshine, rough. Hands of people who live on and for the land. It is mostly people over sixty, some with limited mobility, who struggle between the anxiety of not being at home and the anxiety of having to return in case of danger. Among them are more than a dozen from Los Calpes, a hamlet of Puebla de Arenoso. They know that the houses are not affected because they have been able to feed the animals: chickens, donkeys, dogs, cats and horses. But they are tired and sad. They tell them everything is black. Antonio and Tori Rodríguez won’t stop saying that they are well taken care of and don’t mind being away from home for another 24 hours. You don’t want to come back unless it’s absolutely safe. They also want to highlight the work of the brigades, they ask that their work not be stigmatized because on this occasion, according to all the evidence, the fire started during a clearance operation. In the case of Los Calpes, thanks to this work, the fire did not reach the houses. Thanks to the Brigades and Agricolaris, a non-profit association created to preserve, work and exploit the transmission of agricultural land, but also to keep it clean. “Thanks to them, the fire didn’t reach the city because the whole area was clean,” they say.
Marina collects the laundry at the Navajas campsite to which she was evicted before returning to her home in Puebla de Arenoso MONICA TORRES
The atmosphere at the Navajas campsite is very different. There, where a hundred residents of Montanejos have been resettled, whole families, about twenty children, their parents, uncles and grandparents, time flies faster. At its head is its mayor, Miguel Sandalinas. The city council will pay for everything “because we think it’s time to make an effort,” he says. For the little ones, they have hired caretakers who can also take part in the classes at the Navajas school. They go on trips and some of them even start to play some guitars. You eat and dine together in the campsite restaurant and sleep in cabins or tipis. Despite the water balloon fights, the songs and the setting, the fear is still there. “First because of the alarm. And once they know the damage is under control, the fear of wanting to return home,” Sandalinas says. But they also don’t have a return date. The groups talk about Friday or Saturday, but no one knows for sure. The only one who can return to her house this Wednesday afternoon is Marina because she is a neighbor of Puebla de Arenoso, although her husband is from Montanejos. He has three children aged 6, 10 and 14. “They’re fine, they’re tired because they need their routine, but they’re fine,” he says. The news that he can return home catches him with all the children’s clothes hanging down. She has considered going back or waiting another day but her husband is a fireman and has told her it is safe although they have to be locked in the houses. Like other neighbors, he was able to feed his animals again. The first day was last Friday: “Between the smoke, the ash and the planes that flew very low because we are next to a swamp where they are attacking, only the bombs were missing. It was awful,” he recalls.
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