La Voz de Galicia – August 15, 2025 →
Yoly sent me photos of how the sky looked from her house. The light was grayish and orange, and in the background was the fire. And I, on the other side of WhatsApp, despite being eighty kilometers away from her, when I saw the photos, felt the smoke around me—that wretched smoke that accompanies most of the province of Ourense every summer. Near Manzaneda, near Chandrexa, Yoly has been worried all week, because the fire shows no mercy, and when the danger is so close, one doesn’t really know how to act, especially when the harm is uncontrollable and inexorable. I asked her about the cats, the chickens, the ducks, the house, and them—in that order, because that is the order of things in which we speak. And she assured me that everything was fine, that the fire was still far away…
Without a doubt, the conditions are the worst possible: lack of rain, extremely high temperatures for far too long, and also wind—strong wind. And it’s clear that some fires start accidentally, but in the case of those that are started intentionally (which, apparently, are the majority), it’s impossible not to wonder what drives someone to want to cause so much damage in so little time. What are the circumstances and situation of those people who decide to destroy everything by setting life on fire?
If only we had the ability to stop the start of this great social and environmental catastrophe that are the fires of Ourense. Those fires that turn everything to ashes in just a moment… If onlywe could go back in time to suddenly stop that spark, or that deplorable person who starts these fires that every year burn mountains, fields, houses, and lives—the lives of those who help to mitigate them… If only.
