The fire explodes Civil War bombs: "You see the flames, but you don't expect a big explosion."

Tortosa / XertaThe windows are closed, the panes are covered in black dust, and the heat, which, despite the fans, enters the scattered houses of Els Ports. Suddenly, a loud explosion is heard, and a neighbor can't help but open the window. After this, more explosions follow, and among the WhatsApp groups of residents in the area of the town of Jesús (Tortosa, Baix Ebre), they are clear: the fire burning in the Els Ports Natural Park detonates the bombs buried since the Civil War.

This hypothesis has been confirmed by the Fire Department, who on the section of the road in the Paüls area on Monday night had to work very close to the bombs that could be heard exploding next to the road. The force does not have any protocol to deal with these situations, although this is not the first time they have had to work with detonations in the area. This Tuesday morning, different Mossos d'Esquadra officers deployed in Xerta also reported hearing different explosions that made "feredad". "You see the flames, but you can't expect a big explosion," explained members of the force.

The surprise of the officers was also experienced with panic by different neighbors who were confined in the municipalities of the area. "At least a dozen bombs exploded last night," explains a neighbor of Jesús who spent the night in the confined municipality. "The truth is that there were some scary moments. I made the wife and children leave, and I stayed behind to watch the animals," explains one father. Like him, several people followed the government's instructions and remained confined to their municipalities.

The bombs continued to explode throughout a night in which the neighbors found it very difficult to sleep. "It never got dark. The flames lit up the inside of the house, and despite having the windows closed, quite a bit of smoke entered the house," explains this neighbor, still distressed by what he experienced.

Despite the fear felt by the neighbors of Jesús during the night, this situation does not come as a surprise: "This is a key point in the Battle of the Ebro, and everyone has found pieces of shrapnel in the woods," says the same neighbor, who points out that the bombs that exploded last night could be in Paúles the night before. "Even though you're aware of it happening, you never know when one might explode and if you still have ammunition from the war near your house waiting to explode," he says, still distressed.

Sleepless nights and confusion

"We're back again," Ermenegildo exclaims, resting after a restless night on the banks of the river. This resident of Xerta isn't talking about another fire, but rather about the feeling of loneliness that reigns in the town. Its location on a bend in the river has been key to the firefighters' strategy to extinguish the blaze, as it shares the weir with neighboring Tivenys and is the place where everything points to the flames briefly leaping across the river at midnight.

Since the lockdown in Xerta was declared, residents have been allowed to leave their homes, but not the town itself, and shops, bars, and even supermarkets have been gradually closing. "Look, no one forced us to close, but if there are no people on the streets, why do you want shops?" Ermenegildo concludes, who despite everything can't wipe the smile off his face. As usual, he's wasting hours watching the flow of the Ebro River, where tanker trucks are sucking up water for firefighting operations.

"You'd think we're back in a pandemic," exclaims one of the few residents of Xerta who has come out onto the street, which for hours has been illuminated by a dim, orange light from the cloud of smoke that has covered the town. "People are worried. How were we supposed to sleep last night?" continues this woman, who remembers seeing the flames up close in the early hours.

Like her, many residents have spent a sleepless night today or with few hours of sleep, fearing for their lives, their homes, and their future. Many of the inhabitants of Xerta are dedicated to farming mandarin and clementine crops or livestock, and they don't know what the fields look like after the flames almost entered the town.

A shelter for horses

One of the neighbors who raises livestock is Jordi Hierro, who has a herd on the slopes of Els Ports. Standing on the edge of a farm field, he tries to see how the situation is progressing in the mountains outside Xerta. "It seems like the fire is gone, but there are a lot of columns of smoke everywhere," he says optimistically. He wants to believe the worst is over.

Hierro explains that on Monday afternoon they decided to evacuate the animals as a precaution, although at that time the flames were still far away and deep in the mountains of Els Ports. "We traveled for three-quarters of an hour with the horses until we reached a local equestrian center that offered to shelter them," explains this young rancher. The journey to the equestrian center was "complicated and nerve-wracking," as the animals were nervous due to the high temperatures and smoke.

Xerta reached nearly 40 degrees on Monday, a temperature that was further fueled by the flames burning nearby. Fortunately, Hierro learned that the farm was safe and sound, as the fire surrounded the livestock area, possibly due to the firefighters' extinguishing efforts. This is evidenced by the fact that other nearby lands were burned.