Exhibition
Seeing a fire up close: Photojournalists capture the battle against the flamesJournalists Ñito Salas and Juanjo Madueño have published En el Corazón de la Brigada, a book and an exhibition chronicling the heroic and day-to-day work of the Bricas forest firefighters
Añádenos en Google Ñito Salas and Juanjo Madueño explain one of the works in the exhibition to Francis Salado and Patricia Navarro. (Migue Fernández)Málaga
09/07/2026 Actualizado a las 19:02h.A fortnight, seven fires, 5,000 photos and a pair of burnt-out boots. That is the outcome of the "madness" of journalists Juanjo Madueño ... and Ñito Salas when they set out to experience and report on the fight against the fires from the inside.
Both reporters embedded themselves with the Infoca fire brigades and boarded the helicopter to capture what is not seen when the "gates of hell" open, as recounted by these eyewitnesses to the horror which, as is happening once again this summer, features almost daily in the pages of newspapers or on the news. But what we see as mere facts in barely a minute – or, at best, in a feature, is recounted in detail, with depth, epic scope, emotion, a sense of everyday life and camaraderie in "El Corazón de la Brigada" (The Heart of the Brigade), which comes in two formats: a book and an exhibition – both of which were unveiled on Monday at the Pacífico 54 exhibition space run by the Malaga provincial council.
“These photographs make it clear that if the gates of hell are to be opened, it is best to have them by your side,” explained Juan José Madueño, a journalist with ABC, on Monday.
Madueño highlighted not only his camaraderie with SUR journalist Ñito Salas, but also the close bond between the two of them and the members of Brica, the elite helicopter-borne units of the Infoca plan specialising in fighting forest fires.
The authors give these firefighters names and faces, after the protagonists spent fourteen days in 2024 not only fighting the fire, but also looking after the journalists at critical moments, as the photographs show.
The journalists say they weren’t in any danger, but they did see the danger And up close
Walls of fire in shades of orange, red and yellow feature prominently in this exhibition and book, which take a close look at the disasters – such as that image in which the silhouette of a lone firefighter is set against a glowing wall several metres high.
“That fire was almost out when suddenly the wind changed and we had to get out of there quickly,” explained Ñito Salas, author of this striking photograph of flames and smoke surrounded by darkness, in which the title of the snapshot is particularly striking: “Wall of fire from the safe zone. “The fire flared up so much that suddenly day turned to night,” said the photographer from SUR.
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