The largest population evacuation in our recent history is rapidly decreasing, after many municipalities affected by the flames were secured this Tuesday. In the three neighboring provinces sharing the tragedy, Ávila, Toledo, and Madrid, the long-awaited return home has begun, after deconfinements were decreed in various localities and, most importantly, the return to the homes of many evacuated towns was allowed.
This means that little by little life is returning to places that, precisely at this time of year, are when they have the most life, because the usual population is joined by relatives who return to spend their holidays and tourists. In Ávila, the Government delegate in Castilla y León, Nicanor Sen, announced around 4:00 p.m. the lifting of restrictions. Next to the Navaluenga funeral home, where the Advanced Command Post is located, he said that returning would be allowed to five municipalities: Burgohondo (where the fire started), Fresnedilla, Higuera de las Dueñas, Pedro Bernardo, and the south of Navaluenga. Additionally, the center of Navaluenga and Las Navas de Marqués were deconfined.
A few hours earlier, Burgohondo seemed almost like a ghost town. Shops and bars were closed, the shutters of almost all the houses were down, the streets deserted, and barely a car passed every several minutes. Only some workers remained at the Town Hall (“we stayed in case someone needed help,” one explained) and a few neighbors in their homes. Those who stayed did so voluntarily.
In fact, one of the tasks of the more than 1,000 Civil Guard agents deployed in this province has been to evacuate those localities and patrol to prevent looting or theft. They have also regulated traffic, monitored the affected areas, and controlled the confined zones, measures that will be more relaxed starting this Wednesday. Although the news is hopeful for this part of the Alberche river basin, in other places there are still evacuated and confined areas, and complications remained in the Tiétar valley. That contrast with the sadness of those who have not yet returned home was seen in the province of Toledo: “We missed you”, exclaimed a neighbor to the mayor of Castillo de Bayuela, Gregorio García, while crossing the square loaded with bags. He returned the greeting and continued receiving, at the Town Hall doors, the neighbors who were gradually returning to the town.
In the square, Diego’s fruit shop reopened after being closed since the night of the 25th, when the town had to be evacuated due to advancing smoke. In the morning, many neighbors were still resting after several days sleeping away from home, but he was eagerly waiting for the square to regain its usual appearance.
Just five kilometers away, in El Real de San Vicente, the feeling was similar. “My bed, my living room, my kitchen. How could we not be happy?”, summarized Merche, sitting next to Arancha at the bar counter of Reloj, one of the establishments that reopened. Both spent the last days rehoused in the Talavera de la Reina pavilion and, although they celebrate the return home, they did not forget the kindness and solidarity of those who cared for them in the sports center where they slept three nights. “We couldn’t have received better treatment, but some people expected a five-star hotel and not.”
“I was arriving and my legs were shaking”
The silence that had replaced the activity of these municipalities in recent days gives way again to the noise of cars on narrow streets, conversations and gossip among neighbors, and the shutters of local shops. During the night of this Tuesday, authorities allowed the return of inhabitants of nine of the 11 evacuated municipalities: Buenaventura, Castillo de Bayuela, El Real de San Vicente, Garciotum, Hinojosa de San Vicente, Navamorcuende, Almendral de la Cañada, Nuño Gómez, and Pelahustán.
Meanwhile, La Iglesuela del Tiétar and Sartajada remained evacuated. Meanwhile, Talavera de la Reina continues to host 343 people evacuated due to the fires in the Tiétar Valley and the Sierra de San Vicente.
A few kilometers northeast of these last municipalities, already at the corner of the Community of Madrid, Conchi was returning home, but the news was not good: “We built the house with all the hope 50 years ago and now we have nothing left,” she said upon entering her property, completely devastated by fire, in the town of Navas del Rey.
It has been five days since this municipality was evacuated and Conchi, like her neighbors, had not been able to enter the town until this past Tuesday. Although a friend had told her that the fire was close to her house, she never thought she would see what she now has before her eyes. “I was arriving and my legs were shaking. I thought the property was burned, but the house… I thought the house was not”, recounted this 76-year-old woman.
Smoke was still coming out of some areas of the property and, although little was left to save, she did not hesitate to grab an iron and try to put it out. “If I don’t see it, I don’t believe it”, is the expression she keeps repeating. She and her family had spent a lifetime here, a life now devastated by fire, although despite everything, she tried to keep hope: “Now we are in a pit, but we will see the light.”
Witnesses of a miracle
Her neighbors David and Fernanda, a couple barely 500 meters apart, had witnessed “a miracle”. Last Friday, when they had to be evacuated, Fer asked her husband to say a prayer before leaving. “The flames were already here and I thought we were losing everything.” The fire stopped just centimeters from their house and, although it took much of the property, their home remained practically intact. “We had to get our dogs and nine cats out, but I could only get six. Some were around the house. I left the windows open so they could get out if the fire kept coming closer,” Fer explained, happy about her house but saddened because two of the cats had still not shown signs of life.
Like the neighbors of Navas del Rey, this Tuesday neighbors from nine other Madrid municipalities were able to return to their homes: Cadalso de los Vidrios, Cenicientos, Navalagamella, Rozas de Puerto Real, Aldea del Fresno, Chapinería, Fresnedillas de la Oliva, Zarzalejo, and Colmenar del Arroyo.
In Aldea del Fresno, around five in the afternoon, the image on the road reflected the contrast between both lanes. On the exit lane from the town, official vehicles: Civil Guard, UME, Civil Protection… On the entrance lane, cars full of families eager to “sleep in their bed”.
Saliha and Mourad, for example, got out of the car with their son Yanis, their baby Inas, and their nephew Amir. They stayed in the Villamantilla pavilion and, although they were treated “wonderfully,” they couldn’t wait to return home. “I’m going up, I’ll shower and go to the property. I don’t know how it will be,” said the father. They had not yet reached the door when they saw their neighbors and friends, Sheila and Raúl. They couldn’t help but hug: “Now it’s time to mourn going to our fields and mountains and see what has become of them“.
In the Chapinería bullring, the image was repeated. The first buses with evacuated neighbors arrived. In this municipality, the flames have also left a mark and “a lot of ash”. With the smell of fire still in the air, the neighbors were about to have dinner prepared by the Town Hall, because they had “not even a yogurt in the fridge”.