Suzanne Radford
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SUNDAY MORNING:
On 5 Aug 2018, at 10:29, Peter Weaver wrote:
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Good morning all,
The latest view from our location on Picota is unclear. By that I mean the valleys and hills surrounding the east and north of Monchique are shrouded in light to medium density smoke making visibility very poor. We can hear more than we can see.
There is an area of dense smoke rising from the main fire site(s) and note that the north eastern end of the fire ground looks to have crept further north or east (clockwise from our viewpoint) overnight.
The scene is much as it was yesterday morning - lazy smoke with very light breeze reported 5 mph/ 8 kph but here it’s less than that -it would not even turn an old anemometer !
Let’s hope there's just enough breeze to clear the smoke for the aircraft but no more wind than that.
There has been a steady buzz/clatter of helicopter activity since just after what I took to be a low level recce overflight by an aircraft at 0715 this morning.
A couple of helos arrived from the East - one very smart executive transporter arrived, landed and then left - no water bag or rescue basket - so I have a wild guess that we have a senior politician visiting - no bad thing, if true. (My subsequent educated guess: I think it was evacuating a senior VIP Politician and family (not Portuguese) who had been staying in the area)
We have just returned from an early run to the Monchique Intermarche where the staff were re-stocking the shelves. There was no sign of panic buying - just worried looks on peoples’ faces.
The fuel stations were busy but seemed to have no shortage of fuel, diesel being in great demand for the fire, military and civilian earth-moving vehicles that one saw in town and some of which were queued at the pumps.
We are keeping well clear of the town centre.
Yesterday I volunteered (by e-mail) my small 4x4 + trailer + driver (me!) to help ferry provisions to the forward fire-fighting bases and bring back any passengers but was politely thanked and asked to stay clear as they have sufficient military transport for such purpose. Apparently donations of water etc. are welcome but to the Silves Bombeiros - preferably not dropped off at Monchique.
The message is stay well clear - keep the roads north of the town centre free for essential traffic.
Major admiration goes to the aviators running the helicopters into the thick stuff today - it’s really murky.
That’s it for now,
Stay safe
Peter
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
From: Peter Weaver
Date: 05/08/2018 15:10 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Monchique Fire: Peter's Personal Picota sitrep as at 1500 hrs Sunday -
Good afternoon all.
From late this morning a very slight breeze lifted the visibility so we could see in dirty grey-brown tones (no colour) up to three ridges away (probably 12Km.). We have heard the steady buzz of what I guess are the small but nimble and very welcome single-engined turbo-prop water-bombers out to the West along with the helicopters working closer to us, just beyond Ridge No1 (= to me, what has been established as the critical barrier just above the N266.) Occasionally (maybe wishful thinking ) I thought I caught the sound of a heavier twin-engined firefighting 'plane, but again, beyond visual range out to the West, but North of Monchique.
Today the smoke rising from the fires, although on a worryingly wide front, has been less energetic than yesterday where, during the afternoon, the sky went really dark. Dante would have been happy to paint the scene as Inferno #2 except the paint would have dried on his brush-tip before touching canvas - it was so hot here.
From the way the smoke has been rising it seems the wind has blown the smoke to the north east for a while but ..hold on... . (returns to tablet) -a few minutes ago a wide dark-brown plume of smoke rose from what looks to be just behind Ridge 1 at about the same angle from us as the original fire ( = from this perspective) Another high-energy burn.
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This is now looking very serious……
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View from just above our house
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That plume is widening, darkening and heading for overhead Monchique town centre now.
The battle seems still to be very much touch and go. BUT that's just my view from Picota; I'm not in the air with a better (?) view.
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For the official updates please see the SCP website www.safecommunitiesportugal.com and its associated links. If you don't know them already I'd be surprised!
Kind regards,
Peter
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LATER THAT SUNDAY AFTERNOON
On 5 Aug 2018, at 16:55, Peter Weaver wrote:
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Fire has jumped over Ridge 1 (N266 area) and friends along from Bica Boa (just below the N266) are trying to put out a small fire near their house. Multiple fires now visible this side of Ridge 1 possibly having jumped Ridge 1 and the main N266 road
Soon after – Latest:- same friends phoned - in a rush - are evacuating only just in time - fire next their house too large to control. We are standing-by to receive them as evacuees and fight our own fires if needs be. PW ( note: we realised later that they would not have reached us safely as the fire overtook them and got to us first and their way from Monchique was covered by a GNR roadblock)
Sunday afternoon – and we know it’s on its way to us as choking smoke obliterates the sun, burning debris starts falling all over the hillside starting minor ignitions of their own.
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SUNDAY LATE AFTERNOON THE FIRE HITS US!
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Here it comes - very fast – no escaping it! – We hear its thunderous roar and the ominous bangs and pops of gas canisters, petrol tanks and who knows what else exploding - before seeing the flames!
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Thick swirling smoke envelops our site… then the firestorm attacks
The fire just becoming visible through the trees and smoke below our boundary
The air is black but we can now see the intense flames, devouring the neighbour’s distant trees first
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I might have become over exposed on this one!
The air around us clears just a little as the firestorm vigorously sucks up air from behind and beside us (in front of the fire) and with the excess oxygen the eucalyptus wilderness bursts into a wall of searing heat in a loud explosion
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Now it’s all round us – deafening, crackling – nature at its most devastatingly powerful,
Trees explode with the intensity of the inferno, flames reach about twice the height of the trees – neighbour’s house roof goes up in flames as the fire races up the hillside beside us and then round behind us. Getting too hot and choking with the smoke - must go into our refuge – no more photography for a while!
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SUNDAY NIGHT / MONDAY
From: Peter Weaver
Sent: 06 August 2018 01:18 (note the time!)
Subject: Re: Monchique Fire: Midnight Sunday/Monday: Welcome to Armageddon!
(Started writing this at 11pm but interrupted many times to extinguish small ignitions) Since the fire jumped over Ridge1 above N266 it’s all happened very, very quickly. Sorry for being abrupt to those who phoned - battery was dying and there were more pressing actions required.
We could see a wall of angry dark brown hi-energy smoke heading fast in our direction filling the sky, swirling right and left with the wind.
And the noise was awe-inspiring or terrifying depending on your previous experience (fortunately? - I have had this before so knew what to expect – and had been trained as a firefighter – that’s another story)
When it hit us it was very fast -enveloping the site starting from the bottom when the eucalyptus (neighbours land) exploded and sent up a sheet of flames twice their height, raining sparks and parts of eucalyptus down on our fairly clean site setting many small fires on our closely cropped grass and causing some trees and bushes to singe or burn. Then, moments after the lower explosion it continued round both sides of the site -again thanks to the neighbouring eucalyptus trees and thick undergrowth. The roar was phenomenal as was the choking smoke. The sky turned a very dark brown.
Immediately after its roaring round both of our sites our immediate neighbour and I were out in our grounds with hose pipes and buckets trying to extinguish the numerous fires that had started-up in close proximity to our houses and which were being fanned by an absolute firestorm of a wind -that WAS scary - I had not experienced it before.
I took some pictures (now shown above) which I will send when things calm down and we get laptop charged- I’m using battery Wi-Fi dongle thingy till that expires or the Monchique Vodafone mast falls over.
Continued: It’s gone midnight now .
We have been fighting outbreaks of fire since ( - I did not look at my watch when the fire hit us ) probably some eight hours ago. They are still burning around the periphery of our site and in some pockets of concentrated "fuel" like the open log store 51 metres from the house (law requires 50m!) to which I moved all logs. Previously they had been stockpiled much nearer the house - thank goodness for moving them.
I have come in now that the wind has dropped - for a cheese roll, water, apple and a break to write this.. so much for the Sunday evening feast! No electricity since about 4pm. So the electrical water pumps are not doing their job. We do get a dribble thanks to gravity. When things calm down I will connect our standby generator to get some pressure water for showering etc.
The emergency water tanks all 11,000 litres worth have been essential - those at the top of our site giving high pressure water just where needed - thank you gravity! Pressure = h (height) × Roh(density) × g ( gravity), if I remember my physics, and here only the h can we alter! The more h the greater the pressure!
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Three x 1000 litre water tanks kept topped-up by the overflow from the fish tank
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One of many 2000 litre tanks strategically located around the site – also topped-up by the fish tank overflow
As I looked around before coming in out of the smoke the whole horizon apart from Monchique appeared on fire. Near and far. I was not joking about Dante in my previous msg.
In the distance Ridge 1 (above N266) was burning and could see twinkling blue lights were spread along that road -where the intention had been to stop the fire, I believe.
The intense fires on Ridge 1 (as I call it) the first ridge above the N266 just north of Monchique
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All our neighbours have gone or gone silent -not sure which. Now is not the time to go see and be cut off by the still burning fires along our roadside. - including trees!
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Amazingly just before the firestorm hit us our dear (and I DO mean that- he deserves a medal if he got back to base alive) GNR (Name & rank details withheld) called in on a smart fast looking motorbike. You go NOW says he, not being a man of unnecessary words. (well… It sounded like a question to me!) No, we stay, says I, equally succinct.
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OK says he; Your wife OK? a nod and he was away - no argument - he had other homesteads to evacuate and could see how we have spent so much time and effort " cleaning " our 2.82 hectares and was reassured by the hose pipes, buckets and water tanks positioned around the place.
Continuing… The firestorm has moved on now, all around us is a wasteland - the eucalyptus forests are reduced to blackened, bare rocks with the remaining tree stumps aglow. That’s a real worry as sparks fly off them heading our way and threaten our, as yet, unburned terraces
No sign of any blue light vehicles our way - I guess they have to defend Monchique and yes I have phoned 117/ 112 (for our friends who evacuated earlier with the flames so close they singed a wing mirror) without response.
Must go - I hear sounds of the wind getting up
Don’t know when you will get the next update
-think of those less fortunate than ourselves - they who have lost their homes and everything except their clothes.
Peter
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