One night waiting for the fire in Lubrín, a village threatened by the tragic fire of Almeria

Lubrín (Almeria)Everything is dark except for the sky, which is an orange color leaning towards red. But the sun is neither rising nor setting. It's a quarter past four in the morning, and we are on the road leading to Lubrín, the Andalusian municipality towards which the tragic forest fire in Almeria, which has already left 12 dead and 23 people unaccounted for. Intense tongues of fire burn ever closer. The smoke has forced the evacuation of a town that is awake, judging by the lit windows peeking out. Animals, cats, rabbits, wild boars, and birds are visible and moving disoriented. Blue lights are glimpsed in the distance, but the uneasy calm prevails.

At the entrance to the town, its Councilor for Emergencies, Raúl Hernández, is dejected, sitting on a plastic chair. The advance of the fire towards his town has also forced the evacuation of some neighborhoods. They have notified the neighbors by knocking on doors, going through the streets with a megaphone. What do you expect? "For the sun to come out and the planes to be able to fly. The terrain is complicated, it is not easy for firefighters to work there at night." Two detachments from the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) are also waiting at the same place for reinforcements from the sky.

It is five in the morning. Raúl Hernández hasn't slept for hours. Lubrín became the welcoming scene for the residents most affected by the fire, those living in scattered houses in Bédar, most of them foreigners settled in this rural area of Almeria. It was Thursday afternoon and cars began to arrive in Lubrín, some with burnt and injured people. Like an elderly woman who arrived with 50% of her body burnt and is now hospitalized, narrates the mayor. The residents of Lubrín welcomed the evacuated people in various spaces, such as the theater or the funeral home. Up to 65 people appeared out of nowhere, from the smoke. Now, these survivors, who escaped the fire as best they could, have been relocated to hotels in a coastal town. Meanwhile, Lubrín holds its breath, because the fire is getting closer and closer.

It is surprising how this wait is spent in silence, how no sirens or practically any cars can be heard. The atmosphere is deserted. A man and a woman are sitting on a bench, with their dog stretched out at their feet, trying to sleep half-embraced. They are Italian and live in a house within the fire's perimeter. The police evacuated them and they cannot return. They admit they don't know if their house has burned down. Inside the funeral home, several people are sleeping, mostly elderly residents of Lubrín, evacuated as a precaution. The smell of burning is becoming more intense and the smoke is visible in the middle of the night. It is six in the morning and the forecasts are not good.

But with the arrival of the sun, fortunately, optimism also arrives. Several UME units are returning. "It was a tough night," they admit. However, it seems it was a good night: they explain that they have managed to slow the advance of the fire and that the situation in Lubrín is no longer so delicate. The councilor smiles. They expected it to be windy and it is not, and right now the prognosis is much better. Inside the funeral home, Mari Molina, 81 years old, is having breakfast. She says she is from Malgrat de Mar and spends her holidays in a neighborhood of Lubrín. As soon as they arrived, before they had even unpacked, someone knocked on their door and told them they had to leave. She spent the night at the funeral home and says she couldn't sleep. However, she says she doesn't feel unsafe or worried. The Italian couple also arrives to have breakfast, a meal served by Red Cross volunteers. Everything has changed in a matter of two hours. An environmental agent from the Junta de Andalucía explains that last year the surroundings of Lubrín were already burned, and that this has been key to stopping the fire.