August 30, 2008

Photo du Jour - Fire


Formidable clouds of smoke from an out of control fire Thursday evening, about 25 miles from the village. After dark we could see the flames.
At the time it looked a heck of a lot closer than 25 miles!

Officials say that 400 firefighters, 36 fire engines and nine water-carrying airplanes are trying to put out the flames which spread across an uninhabited and uncultivated area in mountains 15 kilometres from the southern city of Narbonne.

They say that they have contained the smaller blaze, which has destroyed about 150 hectares of brush, but that the larger has spread to an area which is inaccessible by land.

That fire, which was the first to start, had already destroyed 450 hectares of vegetation by 5.30 pm on Thursday.

No injuries or serious damage to crops or premises are reported but firefighters have had to protect some buildings. The lightly-inhabited area is in a natural park in the southern Corbières region near the Mediterranean coast.

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2 comments:

Sally Townsend said...

Frightening wasn't it ? we were less than a mile away and kept a wary eye open all evening wondering which way the flames would go as the sea planes swooped in over our heads.

Jennifer said...

Less that a mile away!!! I would have packed our dogs and cats in the car and spent the night at a friends.
You are brave!

And I'm happy to hear that nothing bad happened to you. :)