On a recent afternoon at the Beats Fitness Center in M\u00f3stoles, southwest of Madrid, performers set up stage lights and speakers to perform a children\u2019s play at the makeshift wildfire shelter. <\/p>\n
A volunteer nurse checked evacuees with a stethoscope. Other volunteers distributed food from local supermarkets and painted children\u2019s faces in a special \u201ckid zone.\u201d Some of the children told their parents they didn\u2019t want to go home as they thought it was summer camp rather than a shelter for people fleeing wildfires. <\/p>\n
While firefighters battle Spain\u2019s worst wildfires on record, a quieter operation has been under way in spaces such as the Beats shelter, as Spanish volunteers mobilize to help some of the 91,000 people across the country who were ordered to evacuate or remain in shelter by the fires that have destroyed at least 100 homes and reached 78,000 hectares. <\/p>\n
Volunteer Sandra Lara, 35, of M\u00f3stoles, had first tagged along out of curiosity to see how she could help the 175 adults and children housed at the Beats shelter. <\/p>\n
She soon found herself rolling up her sleeves, organizing donated clothes and helping to distribute them. She also gave out \u201ca lot of hugs,\u201d she added. \u201cThey are our people and they left their homes without anything.\u201d <\/p>\n
And if the fires weren\u2019t contained, her area could be next.<\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Sandra Lara came to M\u00f3stoles to help the evacuees get a place to sleep, clothes to wear and hugs for comfort.<\/p>\n Some 150 volunteers in M\u00f3stoles have spanned out across three sports centres turned into evacuation shelters for more than 400 people. They join police forces, civil defence units, Red Cross workers and other health emergency services who were stationed to help. <\/p>\n This show of solidarity was a lifeline for Nuria Sanchez, 48, and her family from Fresnedillas de la Oliva, a small municipality more than 40 kilometres west of Madrid. Five days earlier, they complied with a government alert to prepare an emergency three day go-bag. But when they were dropped off at the shelter in M\u00f3stoles, a stranger immediately came up to her and asked: \u201cWhat do you need?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome random guy got me everything we asked for,\u201d she recalled of the volunteer. <\/p>\n Ms. Sanchez had thought her village of 1,800 people was a good place to raise her daughter, but now she is re-evaluating staying in the countryside after the wildfires. \u201cAll of Spain is burning,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Nuria Sanchez and Manolin the cat made it safely to the shelter in Mostoles; so did Enzo L\u00f3pez P\u00e9rez, 6, who arrived from Cadalso de Los Vidrios with his mother, Tamara P\u00e9rez Calvo, 37, and grandmother, Maria P\u00e9rez Calvo, 56.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Abdul Aziz, also from Cadalso de los Vidrios, ended up in a shelter in Alcorc\u00f3n. He had never been evacuated for a wildfire before.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Christina Dinu came to Alcorc\u00f3n with 10 cats, plus a vial of holy water from a shrine dedicated to the patron saint of animals.<\/p>\n Just seven kilometres away from M\u00f3stoles in Alcorc\u00f3n, an arts community centre was transformed into a tentative home for more than 50 people. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have beds, towels, nothing,\u201d said Alessandra Romero Guijarro, a volunteer co-ordinator at the shelter. \u201cSo we roll up sleeves up and get to work.\u201d <\/p>\n The first evacuees to arrive days earlier had been elderly patients from a nursing home. The town mobilized to get them prescriptions left behind in the hasty escape. Officials allocated funding to procure necessary supplies and opened the town\u2019s swimming pool for children. Local police offered rides. <\/p>\n Malika Toudda, 43, and her husband Rashid El Koudire, 54, had seen fires before, but never of such a destructive magnitude. The couple \u2013 originally from Morocco \u2013 fled their town of Cenicientos, at the foot of the mountains to the west of Madrid, by car, carrying with them only their Spanish and Moroccan documents. <\/p>\n \u201cThe clothes I can buy,\u201d Ms. Toudda said. \u201cThe papers \u2013 I don\u2019t want to go through the bureaucracy again.\u201d<\/p>\n Many evacuees brought their cats and dogs with them, but Ms. Toudda had to leave their dog, Kiara, and cats, Simba and Nala, behind. Their other relatives also had to fit in the vehicle. The thought of her pets potentially dying made her cry. <\/p>\n The couple and other relatives returned home on Wednesday to see if their house was still standing. But the fresh empanadas, fried dough, macerated peaches and chocolate cake that volunteers distributed Tuesday night helped Ms. Toudda push aside her fear. \u201cThey make you feel at home, they make you feel like a small kid because they bring the things to your hand,\u201d Ms. Toudda said. <\/p>\n Outside the centre, other evacuees prepared to board a large green city bus that would take them back to their homes in towns deemed safe again. <\/p>\n Volunteers hugged Abdul Aziz, 29, an electrician from Cadalso de los Vidrios, about 65 km west of Madrid, as he left. The father of three was anxious to know if his house was still in one piece. This was his first evacuation. <\/p>\n On Wednesday, he sent an update: his house was untouched. But the road home was an expanse of land scorched by fire. <\/p>\n Fires of the future: More from The Globe and MailThe Decibel podcast<\/p>\n First Nations spent centuries managing forests with fire, though their practices were suppressed in much of Canada. Is it time to rethink that? Anishinaabe scholar Riley Yesno spoke with The Decibel<\/a> about the history and politics of shaping the landscape. Subscribe for more episodes.<\/a><\/p>\n Commentary<\/p>\n Glenn McGillivray: Why humans can\u2019t outfight Canada\u2019s boreal fires<\/a><\/p>\n