The worst fire that has ever hit Aragón in recent years is already stabilized and a large part of the residents evicted from Las Peñas de Riglos, little by little, are returning to their homes. This is the case of Olec, a resident of Bailo, who returned to the village on Tuesday after eight days away from home. «You feel calmer about going home, but there’s still a lot of work to do,» he says.
Although the scare has gone a little from the body, the memories of the eviction will remain in the collective imagination of the town for a long time to come. «At first the Civil Guard told us that they were going to confine us and five or ten minutes later they changed their minds and evacuated us,» says Bailo’s neighbor, who remembers that situation as a moment of great nerves. «It was very unexpected. The fact of being able to be at home is very different from having to leave forcefully,» he says.
Within the negative of this situation, Olec has been able to spend these days at the home of relatives in Logroño and Navarra, and has not had to be relocated due to the device. The worst, he recalls, was the first night of the fire, «it was very busy.»
The return home has been hard for all the residents of the town. Olec, in addition, owns the village bar. «The power went out for a couple of days, so I’ve lost everything. I have lost the food I had in the freezers and in the fridge,» he says. And, despite the fact that the water has returned, it cannot be consumed. Although the worst is over, Olec says there is still a lot of work to be done. Talk to the insurance company and the Government of Aragon,» he specifies.
The news of the stabilization of the fire is received with positivism, as the rain forecasts also give hope to the neighbors. «The fact of seeing a good waterspout fall, makes you think that this is going well.»
