When the flames closed the passage to Jesús Martín in the middle of the mountain, he wondered for a moment why he was there, a few meters from one of the lights of the fire. He is not a firefighter, he is dedicated to construction. It is not from the Cacereño town closest to fire, the throat, but from another to the south called Baños de Montemayor, also Extremadura. However, it is there, in the middle of the mountain, where there are no paths to get there and you have to break through tramples between the bushes, fighting against hand in hand with firefighters. “If we do not help the throat today, with what face we are going to ask for help,” he says. Saying it aloud gives it value to cross a stretch near the flames where the temperature burns the skin using the branch of a bush as a shield.
The throat is the last municipality on the border of Cáceres with Salamanca. Their neighbors have been watching the flames that originated to the south, in Jarilla, have advanced more than 30 kilometers to form a milestone tongue that crosses the slopes in front of their homes. Neighbors of nearby municipalities, both from Cáceres and Salamanca, have gone there, and during that time they have made fires, moved the cattle to safe areas and uploaded food to firefighters who work in the fire that has already razed more than 15,600 hectares of mountain. Each one has their own mission.
This Wednesday morning a Civil Guard gang has risen to the throat to inform the neighbors that they have to have their bags. The fire is still far, but and the smoke that is thrown over can become disabled from one moment to another. People have thrown into the street and, in front of the Town Hall Square, comment on what will happen. They do not see the helicopters that fly over them, because the sky is completely covered by a white smoke, but they listen to them. A green bus parked on the street reminds them that from one moment to another they can have to leave and leave behind their lives.
When Gerardo, one of the neighbors of the nearby town of the throat who is also leading his shoulder, has dropped in his SUVs in the area closest to the fire, everyone already knew what he had to do and the town has become a quarter of an hour a perfectly coordinated anthill. A group of people has run to the Encarna store to take bread, ham, sausage, sausage, gloves, masks, cheese, watermelons and melons. Encarna does not charge them because “now there is no time for that” and because he trusts that they will not leave her lying when the situation has calmed down. Another group of 14 women of all ages has armed in a matter of minutes almost a hundred snacks for firefighters and volunteers. Gerardo starts the engine and four more volunteers are uploaded, each of a different town, but all concerned about the fire. The people say goodbye among applause.
Gerardo carries a cap with the colors and the flag of Spain, a picture shirt and work pants. It leads to every engine, first along the road that uploads the mountain port and then on a poorly preserved dirt road full of potholes. Download the luggage and there are another group of volunteers waiting. Backpacks are distributed with water and food and undertake towards the first line of the fire, where they will give provisions to firefighters and help them control the flames hitting them with a large tool that is halfway between a shovel and a rowing.
One of the problems that has made Jarilla’s fire the greatest in the history of Extremadura is the inaccessibility to reach the flames. They are in mountain areas that can only be opened between the vegetation. Imagining a fire truck there is almost as absurd as seeing a supermarket. In such situations, the aerial medium are decisive. From the Board of Extremadura they believe that one of the reasons why it has extended so much is because since they asked for more helicopters and hydrophions on Friday two weeks ago until they arrived several days. “If we had had them on Saturday we would be talking about another fire,” said the Minister of the Presidency, although he also said that he understood that it is complicated in other communities and that the available means are what they are.
To get to the focus, the group of volunteers has had to lower the mountain through an imaginary path, dodging the brambles that are hooked on the clothes and trying not to fall with the dry straw, which slips as if it were covered with frost. In the lowest part of the valley, they have had to cross a stirred stream to not hit with the low branches of the trees, and then climb the slope down an area full of fine dust, which rose and breathed as they climbed. The journey has lasted more than an hour.
When they have arrived, there were another group of volunteers and firefighters who had stayed behind to rest. “It is very much appreciated to see how the neighbors get involved,” says one. There are flames that reach 10 meters when they eat one of the few trees that are at altitude. The bushes burn more slowly and emit a sound similar to that made by a source.
The 20 firefighters who work there are endowments in Castilla y León, although most of them are Extremadura. They throw gasoline, burn the grass controlled, and use the wind to try to make the tongue of fire on itself. It is a task that can take days because of the extension it has.
That is why the helicopters that fly over that point do not throw water just above the flames, but a few meters back, where the earth is black, but still burns even several meters deep. Hydrophions are not there. They are 23 kilometers in a straight line, throwing water on the other side of the mountain, where the fire also threatens the municipality of El Torno.
Some volunteers move to the near meadow to get some coverage and call their families, who are in the town. “This is better than it seems,” says one. “The flames today or of the town arrive at the town, the firefighters just told me,” says another. The media deployment is huge at this time and the wind has blow again favorably by that flank. The flames advance slowly. Hope is not lost in that town or in any of the area.
