María López fears losing everything.
She says this because, behind her, a huge forest fire that has consumed 180 hectares of forest is descending the mountain where she lives, in the Cundinamarca municipality of Nemocón.
The flames are meters from her house and the scene is apocalyptic.
Hundreds of pine trees just beyond her humble home seem to be smoking.
For more than 24 hours now, they have filled the sky with countless dense columns of smoke.
Suddenly, a tree catches fire.
Goes from dark green to bright orange in an instant.
The sound of burning attracts everyone's attention.
Not only is the house where López lives with her husband and her 21-year-old son in danger: the entire hill is at risk.
María López rests after working for several hours to try to put out the forest fire that threatens to reach her home, in the municipality of Nemocón (Cundinamarca), on January 24, 2024.CHELO CAMACHO
The 41-year-old doesn't have time to think about that.
She runs everywhere.
She wears a long-sleeved shirt, a sky blue hat, a face mask and waterproof boots.
She carries a machete in one hand and connects hoses with the other, while someone closer to the flames arrives and shouts “Water!”, and she answers “Isn't it enough?”
No, she's not enough.
In Nemocón, a town of 16,000 inhabitants about 60 kilometers north of Bogotá, famous for its centuries-old salt mines, it seems that nothing is enough this Wednesday.
The municipality does not have a fire department.
So staff from almost every nearby community have come to lend a hand.
The Tenjo firefighters, the Zipaquirá Civil Defense, the National Police, among others, add up to 120 experts, according to a spokeswoman for the Cundinamarca Firefighters.
In the department where Nemocón is located, this Wednesday alone, there were 13 fires.
The only one that remains uncontrolled is this one.
There are dozens of people who cannot contain the fire.
It is too big and the four spotlights are also too many.
So, for now, López and his neighbors work tirelessly on the side of the professionals.
"It's awful.
We are terrified,” the woman confesses and she takes a sip of water.
“I hope she can save my kittens,” she adds.
Member of the Civil Guard builds a "defense line" to try to stop the spread of the flames.CHELO CAMACHO
About 30 meters higher, on the mountain, a dozen civilians work without the help of the rescue forces.
The hoses don't reach here.
The group uses machetes to try to put out the fire, one of the strongest among the 21 that officially devastated Colombia this Wednesday.
Dressed in work boots, gardening gloves and whatever clothing they could think of to wear, they are immersed in the flames and smoke.
They hit the ground with their knives every time a spark appears and try to remove all flammable vegetation from the area.
"Should we cut all these plants, my little boy?" asks a girl of about 25 years old, who is not wearing a mask.
"Yes, so that the fire doesn't continue to go down," a muscular boy answers.
Suddenly the wind picks up.
A pine tree lights up completely and makes an intimidating noise.
“Get down from there!” several voices shout at the same time, and the neighbors run out of the forest.
Moments later a handful of firefighters arrive to do the same job.
Luckily, they have equipment made to face the flames.
One carries a backpack full of water with a small hose attached.
Another begins cutting vegetation with a chainsaw.
Despite their efforts, the earth catches fire again and again;
He doesn't want to pay attention.
“We have to continue until it doesn't turn on anymore,” they explain.
A member of the community tries to stop the spread of the fire with a machete.CHELO CAMACHO
Smoke takes over Nemocón
About three kilometers higher, in the hills, the landscape goes from apocalyptic to the scenery of a zombie movie.
The land is completely bare.
There is no vegetation, only smoke.
Smoke everywhere you look.
It comes out of the earth as if it were a volcano.
It fills the sky and makes it seem almost night when it is two in the afternoon on a sunny, very sunny day.
Three members of the Zipaquirá Civil Defense cross the scorched earth in a truck.
They stop from time to time to measure wind speed, air humidity and ambient temperature: 32.1 degrees.
Fernando Venegas, one of them, explains why it has been so difficult to put out this fire.
“It is steep because the mountain is very steep, so it is very difficult to climb the water.
At any moment it gets out of hand,” he declares.
Later, a colleague of his says that the theory is that the fire started from a spark that came from an electricity cable.
“They found a burned transformer,” he says.
Members of the Colombian Civil Guard measure wind speed, humidity and temperature at the top of the mountain.
CELLO CAMACHO
After driving about 10 more minutes, they meet a dozen rescuers.
They decide to get out of the truck and take a break.
A worker hands out tamales, sandwiches, and bottles of water to everyone.
They begin to eat with pleasure.
They have been in the forest since early in the morning, they say, and their faces stained with ashes and fatigue confirm it.
This is the largest fire in the last 10 years in Nemocón, points out a firefighter, between bites of tamale.
“The wind changes suddenly and we're all stuck here,” he declares, not realizing how terrifying what he just said is.
“We are doing everything we can, but we need more helicopters,” he adds.
Everyone agrees.
So is, for his part, Mayor Cristian Carrillo.
“We need air support, it is the only way we can attack the situation.
If we cannot count on this, we will hardly be able to achieve it,” he said on W Radio that same afternoon, hours before the National Government sent the Vice Minister of Environmental Planning, Tatiana Roa, to accompany the effort.
“Everything has already burned”
At the foot of the mountain, at the unified command post (PMU) established by the Mayor's Office in the La Puerta village, the commander of the Zipaquirá firefighters, Liseth Sánchez, explains that only one Police helicopter has arrived.
She's been taking trips most of the afternoon, she says, but there's a limit to what a single helicopter can do.
Rescuers have dumped more than 50,000 gallons of water into the hills since the fire started at noon Tuesday, she says.
Still, it appears to be expanding.
The smoke occupies an increasing portion of the Cundinamarca sky, in which the farmers expect two helicopters to appear this Thursday, one for the departmental firefighters and one for the Army, as announced by Governor Jorge Rey.
Forest consumed by the fire.CHELO CAMACHO
Sitting surrounded by police, firefighters and volunteers who arrive with water and food, is Rodrigo Castillo.
He is a 69-year-old man, dressed in a beret, a blue checkered shirt and a look of absolute defeat.
He explains that the PMU is located on the Santa Cruz farm, which has 90 hectares of industrial wood.
"I am the owner.
Well, he was the owner.
“Everything has already burned,” he says, and remembers that the fire started after “those from the electricity company” left.
He stands up, puts his hands in his pockets and looks around him.
In the distance, another tree catches fire on the top of the mountain.
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