“It’s a moonscape, 99% burned”

The initial euphoria of being able to return this Saturday to the houses of Bejís (Castellón), which had to be evicted last Tuesday due to the forest fire that burned 19,000 hectares, transformed into sadness and devastation when we saw how everything unfolded: “This is landscape black mole, 99% of the term has burned”.

This was explained to Efe by the mayor of Bays, Maria Jose Madridwho, from the square of this small town in the Castellon area of ​​Alto Palencia, attends and comforts the neighbors who have gradually begun to return to the houses they had to leave on Tuesday at four in the afternoon.

[Las lágrimas de Nory, la alcaldesa de Vall d’Ebo, y Ximo Puig: “¿Quién querrá venir aquí ahora?”]

The lack of flames favored this during the morning this Saturday arrangements have been made to return Bejis and Thoras’ neighbors to their homesafter a few days of eviction, as well as access to the Viver campsite so they can collect belongings and return users of the residence for people with functional diversity.

“Everyone comes crying, it’s very loud,” says the mayor, who says she was “euphoric” when she was told this morning the eviction was over, but when she arrived in the city and saw “the panorama,” I could tell only that is “terrible, terrifying”.

It said that with the exception of one farm, neither the town nor the surrounding villages were affected by the flames, but the fire left a black landscape in which only “three green tracks” remain in the corners, depending on where the fire blasts passed.

“We are like an island in the middle of a lunar landscape: we are on top of a mountain and everything around us, the whole terminus, is burnt, absolutely black; it’s an image of Dantesque,” explains the mayor, which emphasizes the contrast between Bayes’s white houses.

[El impresionante vídeo de los Bomberos en el que se muestra la agresividad de las llamas de Bejís]

The main objective of the City Council at the moment is to try to solve the “main underlying problems” because although there is electricity and water The sanitation does not allow drinking from the tap and drinking water is supplied by the bottling plant, and there is no internet because “the fiber and repeaters are burnt”.

The fire “was so strong that it cannot be solved so quickly”, warns the mayor of Bejís, who appreciates the prudence of the neighborhood that was evictedabout 500 people, who little by little began to return, as the roads are narrow and only the CV-236 is open, which goes through Torás, another heavily affected municipality.

The local pharmacy is open in case a neighbor needs medicine and the cash register is not working due to lack of internet, as can be seen first-hand by those returning home or on summer vacation after a four-day absence due to the fire.

In general, the forest fire that started last Monday in Bejís had a favorable development in the last hours and there is no longer a flame in its 140 km perimeter, but there are fears that the “unsettled winds” that will blow this Saturday in the afternoon hours, together with high temperatures and low humidity, rekindle the fire.

[La lucha de Manuel para que sus 500 cabras no mueran de hambre tras salvarlas del fuego de Bejís]

The bad weather forecast for the afternoon in which “Very critical” hours are expected for the development of the firefinally prevented the authorization of the return of the inhabitants of Teresa, Sacañet and Canales, to the province of Castellon, in order to avoid risks, although the perimeter of Alcublas (Valencia) was abolished.

Not stabilized yet

The fire, from which this Friday it was possible to stop the advance towards the Sierra Calderona Natural Park, developed “very little” in the last hoursso it maintains a perimeter of 140 kilometers and the latest review puts the calcined hectares at 18,990, although it cannot yet be considered stabilized because, although there is no flame, there are still “many hot spots”.

The Minister of Justice, Internal Affairs and Public Administration, Gabriela Bravowarned after the last meeting of the Extended Command Post that the next few hours, especially between five in the afternoon and nine at night, would be of “significant risk” due to weather conditions.

On this Saturday morning about 40 air assets along with ground assets they have extinguished the flames that remained in the areas of Andilla (Valencia) and El Toro (Castellón) and cooled the “hot spots” of the fire, such as the area of ​​Cueva Santa, in Altura (Castellón).

All afternoon Ground assets and about 23 air assets will continue with extinguishing taskswho will be responsible for constant perimeter review and surveillance during these “critical hours, with a serious risk of proliferation” to prevent further spread.

[El fuego da un respiro a la Comunidad: Alicante envía bomberos a Castellón tras estabilizar la Vall d’Ebo]

The President of the Generality, Ximo Puighas already warned, after announcing the start of the de-escalation of the evacuated municipalities, in which a total of 1,500 people were displaced, that it will be a climatically difficult day, with temperatures above 30 degrees, humidity below 30% and evening wind above 40 kilometers per hour.

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