Mayor died caught in the "wind that looked like the Devil"

"Ti Amândio," as he's known to his neighbors, says that politics was also the source of a disagreement he had with the former mayor during the last local elections. "Dâmaso put together a Chega list, and I would never join Chega. I'd been with the Socialist Party for 50 years or so, since the 25th of April." But "Ti Amândio" downplays the disagreement between the two: "We were always friends, not rivals ." And the episode that led to the former mayor's death also proves that political differences in the parish didn't interfere with the locals' sense of solidarity: Carlos Dâmaso was among the first to move toward the front line of the fire to protect the cattle of the candidate who defeated him in the last election.

The quick intervention of local residents didn't stop the flames from approaching the village, and the firefighting continued throughout the night, until after four in the morning. Early Saturday morning, "Uncle Amândio" began surveying the damage to his properties. At least four hectares of his scrubland and enough chestnut firewood to fill a dozen tractors had burned, wood he had cut during the winter and stored on another property.

"It's a tragedy. We've suffered great losses in Vila Franca do Deão, but a person's name is priceless . He let himself escape to help his friends," he recalls desolately, noting that the people "had almost no support from anyone except the firefighters" from the municipality of Guarda. "The only reason we didn't get burned was because it wasn't our turn."

In the early hours of Saturday morning, before the stifling heat returned, residents scattered across Vila Franca de Deão to assess the damage from the previous day's fire. Some rode tractors, others on motorcycles, and still others on foot. "I was supposed to bring the tractor, but the best thing I did was walk, to see it up close ," a villager carrying a hoe on his back tells Observador as he climbs a long paved road toward the highest point of the parish. He even looks surprised when asked if he knew Carlos Dâmaso. "Everyone knows each other here, don't they? It's a small village."

Higher up, where the tarmac road continues, another elderly resident is calculating what the fire took. Damage? "I don't know, I haven't even gone to see everything yet. I haven't even been to that other building over there," she says, pointing to a lower part of the hill. On a morning when the entire village was still reeling from the previous day's tragedy, Olímpia Boa was one of the few people who, between moments of greater emotion, managed to display some cheerfulness. "This is the land of Boas," she said, smiling, holding a sickle in one hand and a load of tomatoes in the other.

Olímpia later reveals that she is the wife of a "great friend" of Carlos Dâmaso, with whom she was going to run again for the board, "Ti Amândio": "It wasn't my wish, because he's already 81 years old." And it was precisely her advanced age that prevented Olímpia herself from venturing into fighting the flames. "I'm already 76 years old, I couldn't have gone to fight the fires," she says, noting that she doesn't remember a fire ever coming so close to the houses . Regarding Friday's incident, she adds that she is also the grandmother of the GNR officer who managed to escape the flames. "The wind sounded like the devil , may Our Lord forgive me," she recalls, casting a distressed glance skyward.