The Paco Sedano Sports Pavilion in Móstoles has become the epicenter of the emergency response to the wave of fires that has hit the municipalities of the Sierra Oeste de Madrid. Its facilities have been equipped with 200 beds to attend to the first wave of evacuated residents, while the municipality has kept two other smaller sports centers on alert in case it is necessary to expand the reception capacity. In these latter ones, 50 bunk beds have already been prepared, and up to 500 can be set up.
On the court, transformed into an improvised shelter full of beds, there has been constant activity. To ensure the well-being of the displaced families and the relief personnel, the Federation of Local Clubs (Peñas) of the area has set up an improvised kitchen. With an initial team of “15 club members who came as volunteers,” the group has taken on the task of preparing hot food “for at least 150 people.” The urgency forced them to improvise: “At the last minute, when everything was missing, we had to rush,” said the club members, who did not hesitate to come: “We came without waiting for them to call us where we knew they needed us.”
Together they managed to cook two paellas, one with meat and one with vegetables, taking into account the needs of each person. Special care was taken with those who do not eat certain types of meat for cultural or religious reasons, such as the Muslim community, as well as with vegetarians. In addition, fruit and drinks were offered to accompany, reminding that “the clubs are not only for parties, but also for helping“.
In the midst of the chaos, the most affected are the children, who do not understand what is happening. That is why the municipality has installed projectors to show them movies, and people like Luna, an 18-year-old girl who works as a monitor, has offered to play with the little ones and ensure they have a good time.
The rapid evacuations
Among those assisted were Ana Rosa Martínez and Agustín Franco, a couple evacuated from their town after receiving the mass alert on their mobile phones. “They gave us an hour to leave, it caught us very by surprise,” they recalled about the evacuation. Panic spread quickly through the streets: “The message arrived and then the neighbors started knocking on doors.” The exit from the danger zone was completed via an emergency bus fleet enabled from “the heart of the town,” distributing the nearly “1,800 affected residents” between this facility and several adapted residences for the elderly.
The impact of the preventive “flight” has left consequences on the health of the most vulnerable due to the speed with which it had to be done. “We accidentally grabbed medicine that had to be thrown away,” they lamented, but thanks to the volunteers, they obtained valid medication. To cope with the wait in the pavilion, Ana Rosa relied on her knitting needles, a task with which she tried to distract herself and remain calm as news arrived from outside.
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In another corner of the sports center, Manuel, a resident evacuated from Fresnedilla de la Oliva, shared the same state of unease. “When they evacuated us, the smell of smoke was unbearable,” he recalled emotionally. The warning caught him off guard in the afternoon: “I’ve been dazed since yesterday, I left with only the clothes on my back, not knowing what I was grabbing.” From his cot, he stayed glued to his phone screen, following the real-time evolution of the active fronts through an application.
Among the evacuated families is Alessandro’s. He and his wife were working when the order to evacuate the municipality was given. Their daughters, Julia and Helena, were at home. “We went to get them, and we left with almost nothing but the clothes on our backs.” They know nothing about their home and are afraid “because yesterday, when they left, the flames were on top of the town.” For now, they try to maintain faith and calm, although the situation is proving especially difficult for Helena. The 14-year-old girl has autism and “is taking it a bit worse, she has had several crises, she doesn’t understand the situation.” While waiting for news of their home, the whole family tries to cling to the hope that there is still something to return to.
The villages that have been saved
However, amidst the smoke and desolation, signs of optimism have begun to emerge. Manuel maintains faith that his plot has resisted the burning thanks to natural prevention: “I have hope. I live on the outskirts of the village, and it seems the flames have just skirted my property. My sheep keep everything clean there.”
Ana Rosa and Agustín already feel relief, after it was confirmed that the urban core of their municipality has dodged the worst: “The fire has passed by, the town is intact and there is calm.” The news also brought relief to Ana Rosa, who was worried about all the material she kept at home to set up her own handmade clothing store: “I thought everything had melted.”
While waiting for the extinction teams to declare the fire controlled and the authorities to authorize their return, hundreds of residents spend the night in Móstoles with a single shared thought: “To sleep in our own bed again.”