The most hellish hours for the neighbors of Calonge: "When we arrived at the house, we found everything burned down"

CalongeThe most critical point of the Les Gavarres fire is the right flank, as, if it breaks loose over Puig d'Arques, it could cover thousands of hectares of forest land all the way to Girona. Where the most tense moments have been experienced, however, has been on the left flank, close to the urban areas of Calonge and Santa Cristina d'Aro. On Friday afternoon and night, the flames, pushed by the sea breeze, descended to the edge of the houses and the residents spent hours in authentic terror. In the urbanizations of Cabanyes and Mas Toi, residents fled in their cars, spent the night in the open, and the fire burned a house, gateways, gardens, and fences.

Also burning, on Friday afternoon, was Mas Alenyà, an isolated farmhouse with a lot of history located about five kilometers into the Les Gavarres massif. A couple lives there who have seen their property surrounded by scorched gray surface. They are devastated, still in shock. Eva Cama, a young woman from Calonge, a hunter and very familiar with the paths of the massif, tried to help them and recounts the events as follows: "They left home with the dog when they saw the danger and followed the flames through the surveillance cameras, until the electricity was cut off and they knew nothing more," she recalls. And she continues: "When we learned that the firefighters had already passed by, a group of hunters and I went up in the 4x4 and, with buckets, we finished putting out some hotspots in the surroundings. When we arrived at the house, we found the cars on fire, the porch, the small house, and the garden, all burned".

On Saturday afternoon in the Calonge and Santa Cristina d'Aro area, the situation is calmer, although there are still smoking spots and the water bombers continue to wet the ground. 

The help of farmers and the preliminary work of forest owners

In addition to the firefighters, volunteers from the ADF and farmers who know the terrain well and have machinery have also worked thoroughly throughout the emergency. This is the case of Joan Pijoan, who has crops in Santa Cristina d’Aro and who collaborated both Friday and Saturday by supplying water to the fire trucks. "We bring them tanks so they have more continuity and don't have to go back to refill constantly. We also fill the water tanks where the helicopters load so they don't have to go to the sea," he explains.

Farmers and ranchers have also worked in agricultural fields to create firebreaks, while other volunteers have organized to evacuate farm animals. However, around the perimeter of the fire there are few agricultural lands, as a large part of Les Gavarres is essentially private forest land. Quim Gubau, president of the Consorci de les Gavarres, argues that the fire did not spread due to the abandonment of properties by local owners: "The burned area had a forest management plan. They were planned properties and had active prevention infrastructures. But all this is airbags: if you crash at 150, no matter how many airbags you have, you'll still die. And yesterday's fire was at 150, with a heatwave, tramuntana wind, and very stressed forests. Faced with this, the only thing you can do is prevent it from starting, and that's why it's so frustrating that it all started due to negligence in some work with a grinder," he argues.

A lot of car movement despite the signs

Besides firefighters, police officers, and volunteers, throughout the weekend there continued to be a lot of vehicle movement in Baix Empordà, despite the recommendations from Civil Protection to avoid travel and not to come to spend the weekend in the area. It also didn't help that on Friday the massive concert of the Cap Roig Festival, in Calella de Palafrugell, was not cancelled, with hundreds of tourists and holidaymakers among the attendees who traveled by car. Likewise, this Saturday, both the coastal highway and the C-66 bypass showed traffic not very different from a normal day. 

Daniel Encinas, mayor of Cruïlles, a municipality very close to the initial focus of the fire, calls for citizen responsibility: "We have the Alfa Plan activated. Even if there are no patrols on all roads, we must not move if it is not strictly necessary, to leave the roads clear and avoid a tragedy if the fire gets out of control. We ask people not to engage in fire tourism, and if someone wants to go to the beach, there will be time to do so when the situation is under control".