The son of a Belgian man who perished in Spanish wildfires disputed authorities’ claims that his father and other victims ignored official advice to shelter in place, saying the emergency services gave them no guidance.
Belgian virologist Thomas-Wolf Verdonckt told Reuters on Saturday that he spoke to his father, 63-year-old businessman Stanislas Verdonckt, by phone just before 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday evening as the fire advanced on the mountain village of Bedar in Spain’s southeastern Almeria province.
Stanislas Verdonckt was among eight victims of the wind-whipped wildfire who were found dead in a valley below the Paraje el Curato area where he lived on the outskirts of Bedar, according to his 33-year-old son. The younger Verdonckt, who lives in Belgium, traveled to Spain after the fire and spoke with surviving neighbors.
No officials told the group that the fire was heading their way or that it would be safer for them to stay at home than flee, Verdonckt said.
“The people who died did not fail to follow any orders because no orders were given. No information was provided,” he said.
“They only started to run when the flames were almost upon them. That was their absolute last resort.”
Gov’t said that local mayors, police went door-to-door, called residents in danger zones
Andalusia’s regional government has said that no text alert was sent to residents, since the advice differed depending on their location in the mountainous, wooded terrain, and on the latest developments in the fast-moving situation.
Instead, local mayors and police went door-to-door or called residents, either indicating a safe evacuation route or instructing them to shelter in place.
In a statement to Reuters on Sunday night, the government disputed Verdonckt’s account, saying that Bedar’s mayor, Angel Collado, had urged the group, including Stanislas Verdonckt, to shelter in place.
“We understand the families’ grief and respect the fact that, in times of immense suffering such as these, anger and a sense of helplessness in the face of tragedy can lead to a different perception of what happened,” the statement said.
Thirteen people, mainly foreigners including Stanislas Verdonckt, along with one Spaniard, died trying to escape the wildfires, which spread to Bedar above the town of Los Gallardos. Their identities have not yet been officially confirmed, and another 10 people have been reported missing. The wildfire, one of Spain’s deadliest, was declared contained by lunchtime on Sunday.
Close enough to touch flames
Verdonckt said a group of neighbors, including his father, first tried to drive away on Thursday night on a paved road, but were beaten back by flames.
“They couldn’t get through via the main road because they were not warned in advance. Nobody told them that the fire was coming from that direction, and when they tried to get out, it was too late,” he said.
The group then tried to flee by car in the other direction on the neighbors’ dead-end dirt lane, which hugs a mountainside. But they could not make it out, abandoned their cars and sought to escape on foot, he said.
“It was not a choice. They drove to the end of the trail, and when even that was in flames, some people chose to run and try to get into the valley,” he said.
A neighbor who survived in his home told Verdonckt that the flames approached close enough to the house to touch, he said.
Verdonckt said his father, a keen hiker and photographer, had a home in the area for many years, knew the terrain well and spoke Spanish.
During their final phone conversation, Verdonckt said his father debated options for protecting himself.
Stanislas Verdonckt was always calm “even in the most desperate situations” and went over his “plan A, B and C,” Verdonckt said.
“My father is one of the smartest people I know. He’s always very analytical and was just checking boxes: ‘Can we do this? Can we do that?’,” he said. “At that point, it was just minutes before they were engulfed and they were trapped.”
The Andalusian government said it backed the Bedar mayor’s decision to order citizens to stay in their homes as “the option that offered the greatest guarantees of safety given the conditions of the fire, as, unfortunately, the tragic outcome has made clear.”
The government also provided Reuters with photographs it said showed Stanislas Verdonckt’s home was only lightly damaged by the flames, adding: “It therefore would have been a safe haven.”
