How Tondela’s Portuguese club caught fire

He just wanted to forget about the defeat that robbed his team of the Portuguese trophy in the third round when João Rodonto took his usual seat on Dantela’s bus.

The bus eventually escaped the congestion by taking the A25 motorway. The return journey from Leksos Ground in Matosinhos, near Porto in the northwest, to Tondola in central Portugal is only about 150 km away. In theory, this is the easy way. They have no idea what will happen next.

The group was passing through the rural village of Vusela, about 40 km from the house, when suddenly, after making a turn, they were surrounded by fire. It was a completely emotional scene; Fragments of burning trees flew through the air with the sound of flight.

Redonto could not believe his eyes. The driver told Louis Chavez to stop immediately. However, Chavez did not hear him. He thought the bus was too big to turn quickly — it was too dangerous. He kept repeating: “I have to go through this, I have to go through this.”

Then, on October 15, 2017, the Tondola group flew to an unknown location, actually running through the fire.

“The flames came from all sides, from all sides,” recalled Tondela goalkeeper coach João Ricardo.

“Some of us wanted to move on, some didn’t. Obviously it’s risky, but it would be dangerous if our bus stopped. We could have had an accident or a fire.

“When we drive, there is a heat inside the bus. It’s an amazing feeling. “

The rest of Tondela’s team, returning separately from the game, reached the same point a few minutes later. By this time, the fire had completely burned the road, and they could not walk along it. They had to turn onto one of the busy roads in Portugal and flee.

“If you ask me if I’m afraid, I didn’t do it at the time because we didn’t fully understand the danger, the danger of the situation,” says Redondo.

“But we could have died there.”

Then defender Ricardo Costa will talk about the “burning pieces of wood” that hit the team’s bus on the way back to Tondola, a population of 29,000. As they approached the city, the image fell silent. The bad times seemed to be over.

Entrepreneur Beba and his technical committee decided to go out for a bite to eat. They didn’t think the fire would catch them again. But it happened.

“We stopped at a restaurant for a while and heard a strange noise coming from the surrounding mountains,” says Ricardo.

“We soon realized that the fire was approaching. It was absolutely scary.

“We drove to the center of Tondola and saw chaos there – exploding gas cylinders and fleeing cars. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“Usually after 19:00 there is no one on the street. It was already after 10 am that day, and the traffic was incredible, and everyone wanted to leave. “

In the confusion, the technical team split up – there is no telephone connection. Pepa and assistant Pedro Oliveira stayed together.

“We stayed at Peba’s house – there we were safe, it was in front of the fire department,” Oliver said.

“But at some point, Peba said:“ We will all be young and healthy. What are we doing? We need to go out and help. ” We went with wet clothes on our nose and mouth because there was a lot of smoke outside.

“When we returned, it was 4 am. Among other things, we took an elderly man who was in critical condition. ”

Midfielder Helder Towers also took to the streets on fire. He was with a neighbor who helped hook up a fire hydrant so they could clean up a nearby factory for fear of an explosion. Later, he went to check on goalkeeper Claudio Ramos who lived nearby. They tried to get to a safe place, but could not get out.

Meanwhile, senior security guard Costa was hiding at the back of his hotel.

“There were waves of fire, flames over the fire. It was chaos, ”he told the Record newspaper.

“The hotel had a lot of smoke and the alarm sounded. We had to run to the basement, covering our faces with wet towels. That was the plan. Run to PC pool

“Everything around was on fire. We didn’t have a chance to escape. “

In total, 51 people died that day, many of them were in vehicles, trying to escape from the fire. It was the second largest fire in Portugal that year. A few months ago, in June, 66 people died in a fire near the city of Petrogav Grande.

While fires are part of life in Portugal – they can play an important role in nature in helping to fight pests and diseases – what happened in 2017 was unprecedented. About 5,000 km of land was destroyed, which is three times more than in London.

The largest fuel zone ever recorded in Portugal is estimated at 1 billion euros, which is the worst disaster in the country’s modern history.

And climate change only exacerbates the situation.

Climate change increases the risk of wildfires with hot and dry climates. Since the beginning of the industrial era, the world has already warmed to about 1.2 ° C and temperatures will rise unless governments around the world make drastic cuts in emissions.

On Monday, as wildfires continued to ravage parts of Greece and California, an important report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was released. Code Red for Humanity. It has warned of high temperatures, droughts and floods, and a key temperature range violation for a decade.

The European Environment Agency predicts the spread of fires across most of the continent, including the northern regions, and an increase in prolonged fire seasons.

In the case of Portugal, the “bushfire season” has actually been extended to two to five months in recent years.

Portugal is located opposite the Atlantic Ocean in the extreme southwest of Europe. It is a hot country with strong winds blowing from the sea. Geography is one thing, but many believe many others are to blame.

The response to the 2017 fire was particularly critical, especially due to the lack of an alarm system and a lack of specialists to fight the fire. Most of the firefighters in the country are volunteers.

These deaths attracted the attention of the administration of Prime Minister Antonio Costa and led to the resignation of the Minister of the Interior and the President of the National Civil Defense Commission.

The government has since pledged to improve forest management.

“The devil has relaxed,” said the cover of the Journal de Noticia on the morning of October 16, 2017.

Many houses in and around Tondela were destroyed. The flames hit the club’s training ground, but were not damaged.

However, poor air quality meant they would have to spend the next week exercising indoors.

“We all had to wear these masks, which are now commonplace due to the epidemic,” says Redondo. “The air quality was terrible. I had to be treated. My throat was clogged. “

Under these circumstances, it was only natural that Tondela asked them to postpone their next home game, scheduled for next Sunday, October 22nd. When they did, their opponents refused to accept Balance SAT.

Tondella immediately severed ties with the Lisbon club. We were preparing for the weekend as best we could. Later on the field, when the fans sang to the firemen, they won 2-0, tears were on the floor and in the stands.

Despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league, Tondela regretted the chances of avoiding discounts over the past six seasons. They are the only major footballing power in central Portugal – an undisclosed and abandoned territory of the country compared to the adjacent territories of Portugal and Lisbon.

At the end of the 2017-18 season, they finished 11th with the best result. It was a truly happy time for the people who suffered so many traumas a few months ago.

“It may sound like a cliché, but this story is more about football. We are talking about the most worthy people in life, ”added Oliver.

The bond between the club and the fans was so strong on the night of October 2017 when no one was sleeping.

The new season has begun, and the memories of the fire are still fresh as they pray for a peaceful summer in Tondola.