Navalmoral welcomes the evicted residents of Romangordo and Higuera de Albalat

The pavilion of the neighborhood of Molinillo, Navalmoral de la Mata, became the second shelter for residents of the Campo Arañuelo region, evacuated from their populations as a result of the fire that started on Thursday afternoon in the municipality of Casas de Miravete.

The enclosure welcomes the inhabitants of Romangordo and Higuera de Albalat, who arrived at dawn in a rush, since by mid-afternoon the fire was concentrated at the rear of the Miravete peak, many kilometers away, and on farms located on the margins from the Monfragüe National Park towards Jaraicejo. But in a few hours, when night fell and the air changed, it headed towards their towns, until it collided with the highway on the north side and jumped over an oak tree on the south, near the Miravete tunnels, causing the closure of the the same and the deviation by Castañar de Ibor or Guadalupe.

Fortunately, the flames did not reach the urban area of ​​either of the two municipalities, although given the toxicity of the air and as a precaution, as the president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, has insisted, their evacuation was decreed.

Operative in Navalmoral

The Molinillo pavilion was immediately set up to welcome them, elderly people in many cases, who arrived in private vehicles, after being summoned by the City Council, or by bus. There they spent the rest of the morning “perfectly cared for”, as one of those affected, Carmelita, told TODAY, not only for offering them a place to rest, sleep or have breakfast, but also to provide medicines to those who had forgotten them, due to the rush , in the village.

But neither could they hide their concern about what was happening in the town, to which they wanted to return as soon as possible to see the state of their homes or animals, since since Thursday sheep or horses have died or honeycombs have been burned.

The operation was carried out by volunteers from Civil Protection and the Red Cross, local police officers and municipal workers, led by the mayor herself, Raquel Medina, in charge of it.

Mayor’s thanks

The mayor of Romangordo, Evaristo Blázquez, who was present in the pavilion to accompany his neighbors, thanked all of them for their involvement. “People are very happy, they are treated very well.”

And like his countrymen, he does not understand what has happened either. “Neither I nor anyone else, he says. It was a matter of 20 minutes or so. The fire was in Miravete and from there it spread to the highway. It was very windy and she ran like the free ones. I was even on the highway and I had to run away because at one point it passed the Romangordo area.”

The flames, fortunately, have not affected the urban area, although he does believe that the farms near the highway or part of the boyal dehesa will have suffered damage.

Finally, the mayor of Romangordo is especially pleased with how the eviction of the ‘Pablo Naranjo’ nursing home was carried out, which made possible a line of ambulances that transferred its occupants to centers in Cáceres and Villanueva de la Serena.

“I would give the workers a ten for how they have behaved. I would also like to thank the counselor Begoña García Bernal for her support, who did not leave until the last resident got into the ambulance.”