By the time the fire was finally brought under control, whole sections of San Juan de Miraflores had been left in ruins—reduced to warped metal, burned timber, and ash. Homes that once clung closely together along the dusty hillsides were gone, their residents standing quietly as firefighters sifted through what remained.
For many families, everything was lost: personal documents, hard-earned savings, school materials, and photographs that held a lifetime of memories. Now, authorities are confronting a new crisis.
Hundreds of people are sleeping outdoors, wrapped in donated blankets, waiting for food, clean water, and any clarity about what the future holds. A suspected fireworks workshop concealed among the houses turned an already dangerous blaze into a series of violent explosions.
While investigators work to uncover what happened, the community is left to measure its losses—and hold tightly to the one thing that endured: one another.
