"The foc s'apaga a l'hivern", Felip Mengual repeats this phrase over and over again. His grandfather used to say it and while the valley that has seen him grow burns, he can't stop thinking about these words.
He and his whole family have lived in La Vall de Gallinera "since 1611", he emphasizes. For this farmer, the Vall de Gallinera is more than his house or his work, it is his life. We spoke with him at L'Espai Veinal de Pego, a place that has become a shelter for those evicted from this fateful fire.
These days emotions are running high. In Felip's eyes and words we see a lot of anger and impotence. "15 years ago we suffered a very severe fire and, since then, governments have changed but the ruinous system continues, haven't we learned anything?"
The fire that devastates the interior of the Marina Alta was caused by lightning that fell in the Vall d'Ebo on a festive night in many municipalities in the area. High temperatures, an electrical storm and a dry mountain, the Molotov cocktail that caused this fateful fire.
"They don't let us remove a single cane or build firebreaks"
"It was a matter of time before this happened. The branches of the trees reach down, the bushes are taller than me, everything is very dry. It was going to happen this week, the next or the next. If I know, I haven't studied, the technicians also knew about it, didn't they?" Felip tells us.
The residents of 'les Valls' like Felip are fed up and outraged that nothing is being done to protect the rural world. "The environmentalists come from outside and tell us that we can't even cut a cane because that has an impact on the environment. But, if you cut a cane, four come out. Doesn't it create more impact that a flood comes and takes the bridge ahead?".
Felip, dedicated all his life to the land, admits that he has no studies but he has eyes on his face and he does not understand how they are prohibited from cleaning the mountains when later they happen fires like this that cannot be controlled by the amount of trees, bushes and dry wood that there are.
"They don't let us build firewalls because they also have an impact and I wonder, the stamp that is going to stay here now, what? Triple impact?" Felip becomes more and more indignant and can't help but get emotional.
"We want a clean belt around the towns"
Les Valls feel unprotected. They have repeatedly asked to create a clean belt around the towns to at least protect their houses in case of fire, but nobody listens to them. "So what now? Now our mountains are burning."
"My grandfather went with the hoe and four males and nothing was burned. And now that everything has advanced, Can't we take out the dry firewood and leave the mountains as they should be so that if there is a fire with two planes they can put it out?".
Felip not only complains about the situation but also brings proposals. Ideas that, as he explains, the councils of les Valls have already proposed but have never listened to them. "We should divide the forest into quadrants and clean a couple of quadrants every winter, so that when summer comes and the fires will be much easier to put them out. You can't clean the entire forest, but every year you can fix part of it." This proposal has already been formally made, taking unemployed workers and requesting a budget of 30.000 euros, which they were denied.
His grandfather's phrase resonates in his head constantly, "the fire goes out in winter".
"I am not from the PP, nor from the PSOE, nor from anyone else. I am a person who was born here and I am responsible for my family's heritage and I feel enormous impotence at not being able to do anything. I have trees that are 500 and 750 years old, who knows responsible for this?"
"The system is more than 30 years old and is not adapted to the rural world"
Felip has no hope that this fire will leave some green lung, among so many black clouds and ash. "Everything is on fire, they are not enough. It will continue to burn until it reaches a place where there is nothing left, like it did last time."
Of course, he really wants to fight to be heard and let them protect their homes. "We do care about our mountains and we know what we are talking about. There are a lot of experts and a lot of technicians but you give them the hoe and they take it by the iron. It's okay, you can't do this again. The system is more than 30 years old and does not work or adapt to the rural world."
The problem, Felipe, is that Eixa Llavor is not public and does not donate votes, if fora Fer rotundes amb inauguracions a la montanya en farien un miló
Thank you Jca!!
It's fine, it's happening all over Spain and all the organizations and institutions look the other way. How right Philip!!!!
Thank you Joan!!
Felipe, I share and respect your opinion and pain. I am very sorry for this catastrophe and very angry to know that governments ignore the voice of experience and the wisdom learned from effort and transmitted by our ancestors. It is admirable that young people bet on rural life while maintaining their roots. A big hug.
Thank you Fanny!!
Felipe, bravo for such a real reflection, the pity is that all those politicians who govern us only care about the photo, they are unpresentable, let's see if people react for once, thank you very much Felipe
Thanks Henry!!
Of fucking shame. It is unfortunate to see how these fucking rulers manage our most precious asset, our forests. It's fucking embarrassing to see how politicians go by after each legislature and nobody resigns, nothing changes and meanwhile we are indifferent, watching how they destroy our most precious asset. This country needs a change and the solution is not to vote for them. Nobody represents us.
Thanks Michael!!
We are residents of Vall de Gallinera and we 100% agree with the comments, wisdom and common sense shown in the interview. Thank you Felipe for expressing it with such clarity and passion!
We look forward to actionable solutions.
Priority in political agendas please, and listen to sensible proposals like Felipe's.
Thank you very much Daniel!!
What reason are you
Everything that is burning now has an incalculable value, both sentimentally and a large part of our nature.
That they let us plant trees, that they let us clean the mountains and that they let people who understand this put remedies and stop using technicians and political parties.
Much encouragement
Thank you so much Jay!
My heart cries for this gentleman and others like him. They have hundreds of years of wisdom behind them, but someone with a degree from university and no experience of real life can dictate to them what must be done. I'm sad.
Thanks a lot Frederick!!
You have so much common sense and so much reason that the “savis and tècnics” will no longer be looking for what is wrong.
Either passem al acció civica comunitària or finish amb tot. La Partitocràcia te eixe gen terrible.
Thank you so much Vincent!!
You are absolutely right in the world 👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you Rose!!
Totally according to the need for environmental policies and prevention not just for action.
Thank you very much Reme !!
More reason and common sense cannot be had. The natural heritage has an indefinable value.
Let's ask Elon Musk to build a tree in one day and we will see that it is not possible. It is not the money, nor the technology.
Taking care of living things is a task of perseverance and dedication, just as getting to know a natural environment is a process of years, of constant and intimate relationship with that environment. That is why the common sense and the truth that this man transmits has that moving depth.
Thanks for your words.
Thank you Julia!!
We have to get up once and for all, this can't go on like this anymore, they are taking away our assets between one technician and the other without having a bloody idea of what the field is.
Thank you, Antonio !!