Near disaster
Just had this note from our tenants at home…
‘The house is OK but we had a serious fire here yesterday and had to evacuate the area. The hill opposite the house (to the north) was affected with the fire coming over the top from the other side and then travelling along this road towards Gabian. It even crossed the road in a couple of places. All very worrying at the time. Horrible black landscape now.
The fire services disconnected the electricity & therefore water etc but all working again today. However, all the phone lines have burnt down. The cables are molten and some of the wooden poles have been burnt down. Who knows when it will all be reconnected as it looks like a big job.’
I can’t bear to think about our lovely home in such peril. It seems there is a fire every year now. We don’t get there until the end of August, maybe some of the grass will have grown back by then. I have been dreaming about walking up that hill to Julia’s lookout (as we have named the top of the hill) for months and looking out at this view….
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010
29 Jun 2010 helena
How utterly dreadful, Helena, summer fires are the nightmare of every home owner on the Mediterranean coast. The grass should grow back quite quickly, it only takes a few summer showers and then more sun. Just be very thankful that the house is safe. Phew!
People really should learn to be more careful and not throw cigarette stubs out of car windows or dump barbeque coals in fields after lunch. Do you see signs in your area warning people about this? I remember once renting a house in the Var where we were told it was illegal to light a BBQ even in the garden due to the fire risk.
Thank God your house is ok, not least, and very selfishly, because renting it for a family holiday is still on my ‘wish list’. A few years ago we rented a beautiful farm house just off the N9 between Beziers and Pezenas on the outskirts of Servian. Whilst Servian itself was of little interest, the Languedoc and Herault pushed all the right buttons for me. We were obviously lucky because there were no fires when we were there despite the arid conditions. Having witnessed raging forest fires spread at an alarming rate along the coast outside Dubrovnik a couple of years ago, I’ve seen just how destructive and disfiguring they can be.