This week on Noticias Directo TV we return with a new issue of our series of chronicles about the ‘Heroes of Seville’ telling the story of Fernando Sánchez, community councilor in the city council of Seville. Few know the crucial role he played during the tragedy of the #SevilleDisaster, but Fernando Sánchez was one of those heroes of Seville whose courage, decision and dedication allowed him to save the lives of many citizens. But before interviewing him, let’s give you some background…

It was 8:30 p.m. on October 19, 2012 and at that time there was hardly anyone relevant in the town hall. Being Friday, all the deputy mayors and councilors had gone to spend the weekend away with their families. Even the Mayor was out of town to attend a party event in Malaga. But the town hall was not empty, in addition to several officials who were still in the building, including four local police officers, there was councilor Fernando Sánchez.

Those who do not know his career should know that at 62 years of age he is an old dog in political life in the Seville city council. He has held different council positions with different governments, but without a doubt, one of his most relevant positions was in charge of Civil Protection for ten years. Perhaps this explains why he acted at the first moment when the tragedy started with the blowing up of the bridges of Seville and the two F-18 fighter planes of the Air Force over the city.

Councilor Sánchez was the person who picked up the phone when the military and government command was activated to face the threat of 2012 UA. He was the one who served as a liaison and who put his life at risk to coordinate local security forces and emergency services to save as many people as possible. But let’s let Fernando Sánchez himself tell us how he experienced what happened during the #SevillaDisaster…

1.- HOW DID YOU REACT WHEN YOU HEARD THE EXPLOSIONS AND THE PHONE RINGED TO TELL YOU THAT THE CITY WAS BEING BOMBED BY AN UNKNOWN FORCE?

The truth? I thought it was a bad joke. Something similar to when that writer from Triana wanted to promote his book by placing pyrotechnic devices in the river and it appeared in several national newspapers. But when they brought me to President Alonso himself and he told me, in a very severe tone, that it was something very serious and that I had to mobilize all the resources of the city and put them in contact with the military, my heart almost fell to the ground. .

2.- DID YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE AS HEAD OF CIVIL PROTECTION IN SEVILLE HELP YOU?

Obviously yes. Let’s see, we have never had to face a tragedy of this magnitude. The nearest thing, and everyone will remember that it was nothing more than a bad joke, was what happened that Easter with those kids from the role-playing game and the scenes of people running through the city center and some abandoned steps or others being protected by the “centurions”. No, this time it wasn’t some nonsense that could cause a tragedy. We were facing a true emergency situation in which every second of doubt meant dozens, even hundreds of possible deaths. I really doubt that anyone, not even with all the experience in the world, was really prepared for what happened in Seville that night.

3.- WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST ACTIONS?

The first thing to get out of the shock I had entered. The new detonations and the vibrating window panes helped this. The next thing was to run down the stairs and shout at the Local police officers who were on duty. We gathered the few of us left in the building and established an operations center in one of the city hall meeting rooms. The next thing was to try to communicate with everyone but the telephone lines were saturated or had been directly cut off by the first attacks. So we used shortwave radios to begin to establish an initial glimmer of coordination between all emergency services.

It was a truly impossible task to do well, the entire city was dominated by chaos and panic. And things only got worse when we noticed that the other smaller ones began to emerge from the large ship, those, as they call them on the Internet, spiders, that is.

4.- TALKING ABOUT THE TERRIBLE SPIDERS, THEY HAVE TOLD US THAT THERE WAS ONE THAT WENT THROUGH CONSTITUTION AVENUE AND PLAZA NUEVA, RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE YOU WERE. WERE YOU AFRAID?

If we were afraid? Everyone’s first reaction when we saw the flash of that thing firing on Constitución Avenue was to run like hell. I don’t know how I managed to yell at everyone and convince them to stay calm and hide. I was next to one of the windows that overlook the avenue and I could see how that damn thing passed over the remains of a poor boy it had just killed. My blood ran cold when I saw it approaching us and then heading towards Plaza Nueva. I would like to say that I devised a plan to distract it and prevent it from continuing to advance by shooting at everything that moved. But no, we were not able to move or speak a word. Only the crackling of the radio from one of the fire checkpoints asking for information brought us out of the trance…

5.- HOW DID YOU COORDINATE THE EMERGENCY SERVICES UNDER THOSE CONDITIONS?

Well, coordination is a very long word for the chaos we experienced that night. The truth is that citizen collaboration, like that taxi driver who organized a network of taxi drivers to transport injured people, was essential. Also the use of the Internet and instant messaging applications turned out to be very effective in making up for the constant failures in radio communications. We soon created several chat groups with the different area managers and the people who were on the street performing. Keep in mind that all of this was taking place while a battle of biblical proportions was taking place above our heads, but also on the ground with the spiders controlling the different nerve centers of the city.

6.- WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE ARMY EVERYTHING IMPROVED, RIGHT?

The arrival of the army first brought a glimmer of hope, but it hardly lasted as it soon descended into even more chaos. We tried to report the best routes to travel, where we believed there were spiders blocking avenues or important intersections. But soon our obsession was trying to rescue the wounded soldiers who had survived their encounters with those damned aliens. The truth is that until the other ship arrived and the strangers who helped us, we believed it was the end of everything.

7.- BUT YOU WERE LUCKY. LET ME EXPLAIN, THERE WAS NO DIRECT IMPACT ON THE TOWN HALL AND EXCEPT FOR THE SPIDER THAT WENT THROUGH PLAZA NUEVA, YOU DID NOT HAVE TO REGRET ANY LOSSES.

That’s not true at all. Do you know what it’s like to have a bunch of windows exploding at the same time, sending hundreds of pieces of glass flying? That’s what happened when 2012 AU burst into the sky. In addition, there were people from the town hall staff who when everything started tried to get here to help. Some did it. Now we know that there were others who tried it and… (Councilman Sánchez’s voice breaks).

8.- YOU STILL KNEW HOW TO OVERCOME AND WERE ABLE TO ORGANIZE THE FIRST FIELD HOSPITALS, NO?

Yes, of course, one of the first things we worked on was to try to get in touch with all the schools, institutes, sports centers and begin to gather there the lightly wounded and refugees whose homes had been affected by the battle. As I have already said, the Internet and social media, both instant messaging and Twitter especially, were essential to inform people. At a certain point there was less and less coverage and access to the network, but we must thank the people who opened their Wi-Fi networks so that their neighbors could connect. Remember, unlike the military, our communication system was very vulnerable to everything that was happening.

9.- EVEN IF YOU DON’T WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT, MANY PEOPLE HEARD YOUR VOICE OR READ YOUR WORDS THAT NIGHT. YOU HAVE BECOME VERY FAMOUS IN THE CITY AND AROUND THE COUNTRY. HAVE YOU HEARD THE REQUESTS FROM MANY CITIZENS OF SEVILLE ASKING YOU TO STAND AS A CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR IN THE NEXT ELECTIONS?

Let’s see, I didn’t do anything special, I didn’t do anything that any of the other thousands of people who risked their lives that night to try to help others didn’t do. I have heard and read people’s comments but the mayor’s office is not really on my mind. I’m already old and I’m not up to so much jogging. To tell the truth, after the night of the #SevillaDisaster I feel much older. I’m going to need a lot of time for the wounds to heal. Not just me, the entire city. But I am convinced that we will soon re-emerge and show the world that not only were we able to give everything for our neighbors but that we will return Seville to its glory and splendor before the attack.

This is all for now, we will continue reporting on all the latest news from Seville and the world from Noticias Directo TV. Thank you for following us and don’t forget to share this interview on social media.