A neighbor in the burned forest of Dehesa-El Saler in Valencia, next to one of the towers closest to the fire, this past Thursday. Mònica Torres
Simon moved from his beloved Berlin to “paradise”.
He now lives in a tower in the Dehesa del Saler, within the Albufera natural park in Valencia.
Through one room he sees the sea, through another the lake.
Last Monday he noticed, around 2:20 p.m., that smoke was coming out of a part of the dense forest that extends at the foot of the building.
The German recorded a video for his wife, from Valencia, who had gone to the city with their eight-year-old daughter.
At first, he didn't worry too much, he didn't seem very close.
A few minutes later, he had to run out of his home because intense smoke made it impossible to see the approaching flames and it was even difficult to breathe.
The strong west wind had accelerated and pushed the fire towards the inhabited area.
He came to think that he had to urgently save his house.
“And I took my daughter's stuffed animal,” he allows himself to joke four days later.
The flames were contained and did not enter the building, thanks to the quick action of the firefighters who have a base inside the park.
30 people were evicted.
The fire devastated 14 hectares of a privileged place, a green strip, which has suffered 17 fires or outbreaks since last August.
Simon gets serious to emphasize the danger of the fires that devastate the area and also to point out through chats and comments from neighbors, many of whom directly blame one of them for the incidents.
There is nothing else talked about in El Saler, the alleged arsonist who lives in the district of Valencia with its nearly 1,200 inhabitants, a population that multiplies in the summer.
JC, a 59-year-old lawyer, has lived there for decades.
He is one more.
“Everyone knows him,” says a neighbor.
They pass him, they see him on the balcony smoking.
On October 25, he was arrested for the fire that started a few days before and burned 16 hectares in another area of the pasture three days before.
He had some history of launching flares from his house and causing an attempt.
He was in provisional prison until the end of December.
He left with precautionary measures, such as not going near the wooded area, but he can travel along the multiple paths that cross the park.
He resides there, alone, after the separation of his wife, with whom he has two children.
A firefighter cooling the affected area, last Thursday in El Saler. Mònica Torres
Now he is awaiting trial, while his neighbors are watching him, are aware of his movements, and have organized some patrols to monitor if there are any attempts.
La Cope published on her website a photo of him with a bottle of paraffin, a flammable material, which was later found thrown on the ground.
Panic and fear have spread among the neighborhood.
On the other hand, there is fear among some that someone will take the law into his own hands, that he could be subject to lynching, acknowledges a neighbor, who recalls that there is no conclusive evidence.
Others reduce tension.
There are those who suggest that there could be a contagion effect and that there are more arsonists.
Last Thursday, the doorman of the tower where the aforementioned neighbor lives insisted that he cannot speak, that the police have advised him to do so.
A few hours later he left the JC portal and went to his car.
This newspaper asked him if he wanted to talk about the accusations and his situation.
He replied no, as he shook his head.
He had previously commented to a Tele 5 journalist from the balcony of her house that everything she had to say she would say in court and that the neighbors told many false things.
In a voluntary statement, the alleged arsonist denied before the judge any relationship with the fire and indicated that he uses paraffin to fuel his stoves, according to the newspaper
Levante EMV
.
“Of course there is fear and a lot of concern, because this marvel of vegetation implies a high level of danger and because of everything that has happened before,” says Rafa, a retiree who now lives between El Saler and Madrid.
The situation is complex.
Sources from the Civil Guard assure that they are investigating “fully” and that they cannot say anything more at the moment.
Patrols of agents are frequently seen through El Saler.
Two neighbors claim that they have encountered “secret police.”
The Government delegate, the socialist Pilar Bernabé, has stated that everything indicates that the latest accident was also intentional, like the previous one.
The mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, of the PP, seems to have no doubt and blames it directly on the fact that there is “an arsonist on the loose.”
The councilor of Devesa-Albufera, José Gosálbez, from Vox, noted in January that “since the left has gone to the opposition [he governed between 2015 and 2023], the fires have multiplied.”
The opposition responded by announcing possible legal actions for insults and slander.
The average number of fires recorded between 2010 and 2023 was three per year, the Vox councilor emphasized this week.
The City Council, involved in the cause of the October fire, has asked this week the investigating judge number seven of Valencia, that the mobile devices be geolocated to "prove where the alleged arsonist was at all times and also to request that all investigations carried out by the Civil Guard during these days are taken into account in court.”
A neighbor doubts whether one can discern from the location on the cell phone whether one is in a wooded area or right next to it, on a road or trail.
Another suggests that he be given a telematic monitoring bracelet, although it is a measure that is imposed once the sentence has been handed down.
Judicial police sources recall the importance of having clear evidence or indications and that the Criminal Procedure Law no longer contemplates social alarm (which the Constitutional Court considered unconstitutional) as one of the circumstances (such as the risk of flight or the obstruction of evidence ) by which preventive detention or its continuity could be agreed upon in the face of the fundamental right of individual freedom.
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