“IT’S right across the road. Road blocked in both directions. No fun at all,” the first message read.
Then, more hopefully: “We’re out but there’s hardly anywhere to go. We stupidly waited too long.”
And finally: “It’ll be OK if the wind doesn’t change direction, but the house…!”
After that, only silence.
The trio of WhatsApps had arrived from American Ana Sims, 73, over a 20-minute period on the night of the deadliest wildfire in Andalucia’s history, killing 13, a dozen of them foreigners.
Sent to her friend Lenox Napier, the photographer had lived with her husband, retired geologist Pedro Rodriguez, in the Bedar area since 1981.
So when English journalist Napier, 72, based in nearby Mojacar, failed to hear from her again, he naturally feared for the worst.
Devastatingly, his inkling proved correct and five days later Sims and Rodriguez were confirmed as being victims of the Los Gallardos fire that wreaked havoc from July 9.
“I kept telling myself that maybe Ana wasn’t texting anymore because she had no coverage,” Napier told The Olive Press.
READ MORE: Seven Britons and one US national among 13 dead after devastating Almeria wildfire
“But there was this growing pain inside me that told me she hadn’t made it.”
His worst fears were confirmed on July 14 when Sims and Rodriguez, 72, from Huelva, were officially named among the victims.
It emerged the couple had tried to outrun the advancing flames by car, but found themselves trapped by the inferno.
Emergency crews discovered their bodies beside the burnt-out shell of their vehicle.
Cruelly, their home was later found to have survived the fire untouched.
In a cookbook Sims published in 2018, she described herself as a ‘Nebraska girl who came to Spain to study in 1980, fell in love with a Spaniard, and decided to stay.’
The couple left behind a daughter, Lilian.
As the authorities continue to probe the reasons behind the five-day wildfire, the statistics are beyond damning: a dozen foreigners were killed in the blaze, after failing to get official warnings via phone.
The victims also included seven Britons, three Belgians and one French national.
One, a 93-year-old British woman, Audrey Curry, died in hospital from her injuries a few days later.
The fire, which scorched over 7,000 hectares – and a shocking 84% of Bedar – left 1,500 evacuated from their homes, some for nearly a week.
British pensioner Malcolm Timbrell, 70, lost his wife, Annette Kilgore, 69.
The couple fled Bedar alongside friends and neighbours after spotting what Timbrell later described to the BBC as ‘a wall of flame’ bearing down on them.
But halfway through the escape, Timbrell made the split-second decision to return home to rescue the couple’s cats, Charlie and Lilly.
By the time he rejoined the group, they had abandoned their vehicles as fast-moving flames raced down the hillside towards them.
Timbrell managed to shelter inside a car. The others, he said, had nowhere left to run.
“They had no chance,” he explained.
READ MORE: PICTURED: British grandparents confirmed among victims of deadly Almeria wildfire
The way they died has inevitably raised questions about how the group were warned.
The son of one Belgian victim Stanislas Verdonckt accused the authorities of leaving residents without clear guidance as the fire closed in.
It came after claims were published in the Spanish media suggesting the expats did not follow instructions on how to escape.
Thomas Verdonckt revealed emergency services never warned the group the flames were approaching or advised them staying at home would be safer.
“The people who died did not fail to follow any orders because no orders were given. No information was provided,” he insisted.
“They only started to run when the flames were almost upon them. That was their absolute last resort.”
The Junta however, later disputed his account, insisting Bedar mayor Angel Collado had, in fact, urged the group, including Verdonckt, to shelter in place.
For Napier, however, the arguments over what went wrong matter less than the friends he lost.
Days later, he still thinks about Ana’s final message – and the silence that followed.
“I just wish I’d been wrong,” he said.
Additional reporting: Ben Pawlowski
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