“I’m no hero, I’m broken”: open letter from a Spanish firefighter

©Paul Chambers via Unsplash

As massive wildfires have been raging in Spain for days, a firefighter wrote an open letter that is being widely shared around the world.

Ángel Malanda Lafuente, a forestry worker in Ávila and a union representative for the CGT, shares his experiences from the past grueling weeks as a firefighter in an open letter. “We’re fighting something we’ve never seen before,” says Malanda. “Sometimes it feels like I’m in a video game. I can’t wrap my head around what I’m going through.”

Malanda, who elaborates on his story in an interview with the Spanish media outlet elDiario.es, describes how he and his colleagues often work 12-hour shifts or longer, with limited resources and against flames that behave like “fire fungi ”: they flare up unexpectedly, return to areas that seemed to have been brought under control, and advance into territory where the previous team had just gained ground. “It’s a miracle that no one has died,” he says. So far, some 50,000 hectares have burned in just a few weeks.

In his letter, he asks the public for patience and understanding. “If we sometimes pause, it’s not because we don’t want to work, but because we were given that order as part of a broader strategy. Sometimes we have to withdraw so as not to jeopardize safety.” He describes how local residents take out their frustration on them: “Yesterday in Casavieja, colleagues were verbally abused. You arrive at a scene and a woman says loudly, ‘Finally, just in time.’ We remain silent, because the most important thing is to put out the fire.”

The emotion is raw. Malanda grew up in the region that is now burning. “I lost my childhood in two days. The landscapes of my memories—the Sierra de Gredos, the trails of Alto de la Mira and Cancho el Guarro—nothing remains. My family is being evacuated, and I’m working like an ant with a hoe against a monster.” Two colleagues lost their homes. “I’m a human being, just like you. I barely sleep, I’m dehydrated, I barely eat. I take off my hero’s cape, and all that’s left is skin—a body battered by radiation, smoke, and the lash of the fire.”

He also criticizes the organization: low wages of around seven euros an hour, temporary contracts, insufficient training, and inadequate equipment. “The government mismanages taxes, denies us the proper job title and rights, and fails to train its workers.” At the same time, he points to the climate crisis: “When the plant material is dried out, you don’t need a lighter; a pinch between your fingers is enough. We used to be able to count on nighttime moisture. More and more often, that doesn’t help anymore.”

Malanda concludes with an appeal: “Don’t put a cape on me. I’m no hero. I’m just a person trying to do my best, as well as I can and know how. That’s all—nothing more.”

©Paul Chambers via Unsplash - illustrative image of a firefighter.