"I have no money, no documents, no home," said 74-year-old pensioner José Fernández, one victim of the wildfires that burned his town, Pelayos de la Presa, and numerous others west of Madrid.
As far as the eye can see, Fernández witnessed only burnt furniture, half-collapsed walls and mountains of ash on what used to be his house and land.
The blaze advanced from the San Juan reservoir area, one of the worst-hit parts of this municipality, which lives off tourists drawn by the water and the beauty of its natural surroundings.
Now the village is half empty. Many residents, evacuated late last week as the flames approached, are just beginning to return home after evacuation orders were lifted on Tuesday.
When the fire reached the house where Fernández has lived with his wife for 35 years, a Civil Guard officer came to tell him, "rudely", that he had to leave.
