Forest fire

There's a fire ripping through hundreds of hectares of forest in the valley on the other side of the hills from us. Right now the mistral is sweeping smoke over our house, the sun is casting a curious orange light and flecks of grey ash are swirling and falling around us.

The fire began yesterday lunchtime. News reports said about 25 hectares were affected, it was being dealt with and there was no risk to the population. One report said someone had been arrested for starting the blaze. Twitterers joked about Rasquera's planned cannabis plantation going up in smoke.

Then as darkness fell, the wind whipped up. Suddenly 100 hectares were consumed. The firefighters complained that the terrain was tricky and the gusts of wind were fuelling the fire. The news report about the arrest was redacted; it said instead that only a witness statement had been taken. There was no moonlight, so in the pitch black night we walked to the top of our drive and saw the orange glow of the flames in the distance. We could hear a roar and wondered if it was the wind or the fire.

Instead of sleeping we searched for news on the internet. Our friends in the valley fled their house taking their three dogs and their most valuable possessions - their daughter in the village updated us on Facebook. They believed they were leaving their home to burn. I copied and pasted Catalan news reports into Google Translate: 500 hectares were affected, they said, and 20 people evacuated from their homes.

By 4am we could do nothing but drop off to sleep. Now we've just learned our friends' house was spared - the fire has left a lunar landscape all around, but the building is unharmed. The wind is still blowing though and every new statement says more forest has been lost - the latest from the Agents Rurals say 900 hectares have gone.

Twitter: #Rasquera
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