It was half past one in the afternoon, there were barely 40 minutes left until Jorge Martínez, local police officer of Nambrocayour workday ends. When a neighbor called 911 that a fire in Camino del Cañal Street, on the edge of the municipality of Toledo, was devastating a meadow area.
The fire around barely ten meters from a row of chalets and very close to the Viñedos highway it spread quickly. The firefighters of the Consortium had received the report, but Jorge was already there. «I couldn't wait there for fifteen minutes with my arms folded until the firefighters arrived, because In a situation like this, every minute is multiplied by a thousand.», admits the officer who was only on duty because his partner – the other half of the staff – is on vacation.
So without hesitation, Martínez grabbed six fire extinguishers from the police vehicle “because in Nambroca we are close and far from everything” and began to extinguish the flames. “It was a desperate situation because I had put out the flames and they were coming out the other side and I had to crawl into the ashes. It was like candles when you put them out and they lit up again. “I didn't think about what I was going to do until the bottles were gone. I just had to wait and see how everything burned,” says the police officer who is “very clear” that “if I hadn't acted like that, today we would definitely talk about some accident; of evacuated people and material damage.
The importance of prevention
He says a neighbor of the chalets near where the fire started came outside to offer water as he tried to put out the flames. “He gave me a bottle of water and thanked me,” the officer says, acknowledging that “It tastes bad” that prevention is not appreciated today when it comes to avoiding tragedies what could have happened within the municipality.
When the fire brigade arrived the fire was already out “they just had to cool the area” and they thanked me for my intervention, says the officer who last year received the cross with white insignia from the National Police for saving the lives of several people throughout his professional career.
“The only thing left is my personal pride, because an accident could have happened and it didn’t. It’s my job and I’m proud of it,” said Jorge, who returned home later that day at the end of his work day. He had to go to the University Hospital of Toledo, where he was treated for smoke and dust inhalation.