Last nights wild fire

I am sure many of you witnessed last nights wild fire on the Sierra Godall. This was located on land next to James Hughes finca and became noticed at about 11pm, and the mobile tom tom drums came into action insuring everyone likely to be affected were raised from their beds and made aware of the fire.

At its height flames were estimated by the fire brigade to be approximately 40 - 50 feet high and were been whipped into whirlwinds by the high winds. A total of six fire engines attended the blaze, together with Guarda Civil and Mossas. The fire men used 2 kms of hose to reach the fire. It was decided that the water carrier helicopters could not be used in the dark and high winds

Information on residents was gathered and an evacuation plan was put in place around midnight. This plan was stood down around 1.30am when the wind changed direction taking the threat away from homes on the mountainside.

At 5.15am, 3 fire engines left the scene, together with the police. The other 3 engines remained on watch, and are still on watch as I write this this morning, together with the Agents Rural and the helicopters regularly checking the scene in daylight.

The cause of this fire was olive cuttings being left in a bonfire, which was whipped up by the wind into this wildfire. It should serve as a sharp reminder to us all living in the campo.

Our thanks must go out the the proffesionalism of the emergency services who did such a great job last night in protecting homes, people and pets and also to James Hughes who handled the situation for us by keeping us upto date with information and working with the police to identify who may have been at risk. Our thanks to you all.