Last night as we left the house about 8pm we saw the unmistakable sight of smoke billowing down the mountain side, can mean only one thing at this time of year, FIRE! Luckily for us it was on the mountain opposite so our house would never have been in trouble unless the fire came down very low and jumped the valley but some of our friends live on that mountain. We reached the intended bar and found our friends in their, told them (they had no idea a fire was going on), so they left and went home, one of the wives had already packed the essentials in case of evacuation. Strong winds were hampering the situation but eventually over night it was brought under control.
I think since the huge fire in 2005, which caused devastation in the area, the fire services around here are excellent. There are spotter planes out all day looking for hotspots, fire towers in the mountainsides so the response is very quick should a fire start. In the news this morning they are saying the fire was between Béznar and Lanjaron and was possibly started by a group of foreigners who were seen in the area!! It was foreigners who started the fire in 2005!
Much of Spain at the moment is on fire, we are having very high temperatures (Lanjaron reached 40.7C yesterday) which has accounted for some fires to restart, there have been at least 6 firemen killed, many houses lost, hundreds of people being evacuated from towns, goodness knows what has been happening to the wildlife. But I guess its not even making the news in the UK!
Related posts:
Fortunately, we have had enough rain late this spring that the spring fire season was relatively mild. We see fire becoming a threat again in September and October, but the summers are usually calm.
Our close call was last spring when we had a fire creep onto our land, though still away from us or any structure. http://tinyurl.com/kn9rac