The city of Guadalajara has come together in the afternoon of this Thursday with flowers, music, candles, and silence to pay tribute to the eleven members of the Cogolludo team who, on July 17, 2025, twenty years ago, lost their lives while trying to extinguish the fire originated in a barbecue in Riba de Saelices, which also took more than 13,000 hectares of forest in the Alto Tajo.
After placing some flower arrangements in the roundabout in the capital that bears their name, Glorieta del Retén, eleven candles were lit in memory of the eleven victims: Alberto, Jesús, Julio, Jorge César, Mercedes, José, Luis, Manuel, Marcos, Pedro, and Sergio, and a minute of silence was observed in their memory.
As every year after that fateful event, Guadalajara has remembered these 11 heroes who risked their lives to protect and defend their land in a fire of great virulence, and who never imagined that their journey would not have a return, a memory that was also carried out this morning in the town of Cogolludo and will be extended with different events in other municipalities on different days.
In the case of the city of Guadalajara, it was an event organized by the City Council of Guadalajara but open to all citizens, in which, in addition to some of the families of the deceased, the municipal Corporation was present, with the mayor at the forefront, Ana Guarinos; the Equality Councilor, Sara Simón; the president of the PP in Castilla-La Mancha, Paco Núñez, officials from the Fire Department and the Local Police; and some mayors and councilors from the area devastated by the fire, among others.
Representing the families of the victims present at the event, Susana Rodríguez and Sergio Cemillán took the floor, reading a moving and heartfelt letter in which they wanted to remember the 11 members of the Cogolludo team not as victims but as 11 heroes and people who loved their land to the point of risking their lives to protect it.
Eleven brave, determined, and full of life young people who went out that day to stop the advance of the flames, but who did not return home, destroying a beautiful landscape. An event that, as they pointed out, has broken families, frozen time, and left in each of them «a wound impossible to close that oozes every year when these dates arrive,» said Susana.
An event in which these 11 heroes who gave their lives for their land were remembered and who «were not afraid to face the fire without means, ignoring that they were alone,» emphasized, emphasizing that they do not hold grudges against anyone.
«Each person who participated in that fire will know what they did and will always be with them,» she said, without ceasing to emphasize the years of struggle behind this fact for the truth to be known and justice to be done, but understanding that today, the reality in Spain is very similar to that of two decades ago.
Although the pain does not disappear, they have learned to live with it. «We do not forget you. We will always be missing 11,» they pointed out.
For her part, the mayor, Ana Guarinos, referred to this fire as a «tragedy that shocked Spain,» which devastated thousands of hectares that are already recovering and took the lives of eleven people in addition to two workers who died during the wood extraction work. «We cannot forget, we do not want to, and we must not. The memory remains and will remain. We do not forget you,» she emphasized.
An emotional, warm, and meaningful event that ended with music from young local performers who delighted the attendees with a selection of eleven songs for remembrance that touched the hearts of many.
On the other hand, the town of Cogolludo has once again immersed itself in the memory of those who gave their lives protecting the forest, in an event filled with emotion, memory, and commitment, as happens every year since then.
FUENTE