Silence reigns at mid-morning in the Segorbe seminary. The sun warms the façade and a man leans out of a window. "Here we are," he says from above. A minute later he goes down to the patio, dressed in work clothes and a cap, what he was wearing last Thursday when his wife called him running to come home. "He told me 'come now, they make us leave'. And I stopped what he was doing, these pants were full of cement to the top. Luckily I was able to wash it here”, explains Escandril, the nickname of this resident of La Artejuela, and one of the 1,600 people who have been evicted since last Thursday when the mountain began to burn in Alto Mijares, in the interior of Castellón .
The extinguishing teams are working tirelessly with 22 aerial means and 500 ground means to try to control the fire, which is entering "decisive hours" given the forecast of gusts of west forecast for tomorrow that could, once again, strengthen the flames.
Seven days already away from home that begin to weigh more than expected. “Each one manages it as they can, but now the discourse has changed. We have been here for many days now, ”laments the man, who is staying with his wife and his three children. “I know the mountain well, and we have spent years, decades, warning that the mountain must be cleaned. That was a powder keg!” he declares.
And he maintains, saddened, that "preventing a fire costs ten times less than putting it out." At the moment, some 4,600 hectares of territory of great ecological value are affected, in a perimeter of approximately 55 kilometers which, luckily, does not affect the Espadán Natural Park.
On Friday afternoon there were several psychologists who took care of the housed, the social workers are also giving care to the evicted, as well as the Red Cross volunteers, who at the Citizen Service Center located in the multi-sports pavilion of Segorbe pay attention to the people evicted by the fire started in Villanueva de Viver.
Tina Tamborero is from there, a resident of Puebla de Arenoso since she retired from her beloved Barcelona. Her family will come from there next week to spend Holy Week. "That's what I'm thinking, that this happens soon, that my grandchildren are coming," she explains.
Yesterday he went out to buy a book "so as not to think too much." In the end, among many recommendations, he took Maldito karma, by David Safier. "This is how I am entertained, since we don't have television here either...". But the mobile notifications do not stop ringing, nor do the calls. Her husband is attending to the needs of the town as deputy mayor and every so often he tells her.
They know that the houses are fine, the animals are cared for, but they have not yet been able to return. That is the pain they carry, which grows when they see videos like the one that went viral on Monday, with the flames threatening Montán. "He did a lot of damage among the evicted, they were very bad yesterday (on Monday) seeing him," explains Juan Castañer, head of the seminar, from which they can enter and leave. There is no entry control and instead, there is a lot of hospitality.
"The Bishop of Segorbe already offered it in the fires of Bejís and Soneja, which 'open doors' he said, and here they are." The center is also a nursery school, so the boys and girls parade from time to time through the patio before the exciting gaze of the neighbors who spend their hours there.
Like Mari, from La Puebla, who answers the phone all the time, or Antonio and Montse, from La Monzona, who regularly go out to walk their dog, Rasta. Her house - "the only one we own," she explains - is very close to an area that is especially popular in summer, where the cold water refreshes and the mountains crown a beautiful setting, one of those that still remain if you look for it.
“A lot of people have called us to offer us help, we could go with our children who are in Madrid and Mallorca, but we want to be here, giving each other strength”, comments Montse excitedly, remembering how even the area's portfolio calls her each day to see what they need. Back home.
