The national football coach, Luis de la Fuente, traveled this morning to the Marazuela sports center, in Las Rozas, to accompany the dozens of people evacuated from Colmenar del Arroyo who have been temporarily sheltered in the Madrid municipality due to the threat of fire. “I am a resident of Las Rozas and it is my duty to be here to encourage people, feeling part of their pain,” the coach said in statements to RTVE.
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His presence has generated enormous anticipation just one week after Spain’s victory in the World Cup against Argentina. “It is everyone’s duty to try to help in tragic moments like these. To bring joy, even if only for a few hours, to all those who are having such a hard time. In fact, it helps us more to be more human. People are the most important thing,” he reflected.
Furthermore, the world champion also wanted to send a message of encouragement and strength to all the people who are in different reception points in the Community of Madrid. “All of Spain is thinking of them. They have the support of an entire country, just as we have had it when we have been playing football. We feel that Spain, at this moment, is fully committed. This will pass and they will be able to recover their lives, which is what we all wish for,” he stated.
On the other hand, Luis de la Fuente also explained that the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has taken in some families who are currently in a vulnerable situation.
An initiative that, as explained by the RFEF in a statement, is managed in “direct coordination” with the Las Rozas City Council, an institution that centralizes part of the reception of residents, and Civil Protection.
The Federation has specified that, through social assistance services, “priority will be given to family units in situations of special vulnerability or social emergency” and that the municipal Council, together with the region’s emergency teams and Civil Protection, “will continue to channel the logistical and social needs of those affected”.
The families are occupying some of the rooms at the National Team Residence, facilities “regularly used by national teams”.
“Everything that can be done, I believe, is little. We need everyone’s help and, in that spirit, the RFEF is fully committed to these initiatives and helping people who need it,” De la Fuente stated.
In fact, he detailed that this very morning he “enjoyed a very affectionate and heartwarming evening” with all of them. “Let’s keep helping until this is resolved,” concluded the coach.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Sunday, in an appearance from the Advanced Command Post of Navaluenga (Ávila), that the Council of Ministers will declare the areas affected by these fires as areas severely affected by civil protection emergencies.
More than 116,000 people remain evacuated or confined so far in Spain due to the series of fires declared in several regions. The vast majority, about 100,000, correspond to Madrid and Ávila, while another 16,000 were evacuated in the province of Castellón (east).
