Carlos saw his home destroyed by the Tres Cantos fire: "My disabled son will have a home again thanks to the people."

On August 14, the Tres Cantos fire destroyed ten homes and left one dead . Among those affected were Carlos Mayorga, a computer engineer specializing in blockchain, and his 13-year-old son, Elian, who suffers from severe autism caused by MEF2C syndrome . Their house, which Carlos had finished building just six days earlier, was reduced to ashes. In conversation with 20minutos , Carlos recounts his experience of that day, the fear of losing everything, his son's uncertainty about the loss of his routine, and the wave of solidarity that is allowing him to start over.

Carlos acknowledges that he's feeling "much better" now because people have embraced him . Thanks to donations, he explains, he's been able to start getting back on his feet, although there's still a long way to go: he needs to adapt his home to his son's needs. "The important thing is that I now have a place to start over," he says.

It was a tunnel of fire

He remembers that Monday as a day that changed his life in seconds. Elian was with his mother and he was at home with a neighbor when, after a summer storm, the fire broke out. “ It was a matter of five seconds: I turned around to untangle the hose, and when I looked back, my fence was already burning with five-meter flames . ” At that moment, he grabbed his cat, put it in the car, and sped off through what he describes as “ a tunnel of fire .”

The house that burned was no ordinary one: Carlos had been building it for a year and a half and had finished it just six days before. “ It was the house of my dreams, designed for my son, and it burned to the ground . I left with only flip-flops and a swimsuit.” The next day, when he was able to access the property, he saw with his own eyes that absolutely nothing remained.

The blow was extremely hard, but what surprised him most was the public's reaction. " The response has been brutal; anonymous people and friends have done what the authorities should have done , " he says. In just ten days, donations and solidarity have allowed him to regain some stability and look to the future.

Regarding her son, she admits that he still "knows nothing ." Although he is 13 years old, his cognitive capacity is that of a two-year-old. He lives with very strict routines, requires everything to be in its place, and her house was adapted with pictograms, safety locks in the kitchen, locks, and a special pool for him. " When I come back and see that nothing of what I had is there, it will be a shock , " she admits, although she is already working on reproducing the same layout and elements to make the transition as painless as possible.

With my son I wouldn't have taken the slightest risk.

Carlos confesses that he has often thought about what would have happened if Elian had been with him at the time of the fire. “ I wouldn't have taken the slightest risk with my son; we would have run away as soon as we saw the smoke . ” That thought comforts him, because he knows that the priority has always been and always will be to protect him.

She notes the lack of clear emergency protocols for people with disabilities . “At the command post, I saw that they were providing water and food, but there was nothing adapted or specific care that I could see . That should always be in place in any emergency.”

Despite everything, Carlos finds strength in solidarity. “ My son will have a home, a room, and his routines again . The most important thing is that when he starts school, he has a stable environment. That stability is what allows him to learn and be happy .”

They're getting Elian and me back to our lives.

Before finishing, he wanted to send a special message: “I want to show all my gratitude to the Araya Autism Association , to @n1agresionsinrespuesta , to Autismo España , to the ONCE Foundation and to the legion of anonymous donors who are achieving, with their invaluable help, that Elian and I can recover our lives . ”

His biggest concern is being able to have a home where his son can be with him as soon as possible. “ Every little bit helps ,” he recalls. For those who want to contribute, a crowdfunding campaign has been set up on GoFundMe , with an account in the name of Elian Mayorga Gómez (ES49 2100 8029 6701 0001 3727). The following message can be added to the transfer: Donation for burned-down house .