fire...

Every year it is the same thing - random fires breakout on the island.  There has been a long period without rain so everything is tinder dry so sun shining on glass or a casually discarded cigarette are often the problem but sadly some are set on purpose - for what reason nobody knows, sometimes a disgruntled landowner sometimes just pure maliciousness.  Whatever the reason the sad fact remains that these fires are a drain on resources and the fauna and flora take a long time to recover, if ever.  On our way to Spilia last week we passed through an area which looked like it had survived a nuclear holocaust with vast swathes of land just decimated, littered with the remains of age old trees just chopped down and left to rot because they had burned and died - acres upon acres of nothingness.  Some green was beginning to show as shrubs were valiantly beginning to regenerate but the area had lost acres upon acres of ancient woodland which would take hundreds of years to re-establish.

Yesterday the skies were filled with the familiar sights, sounds and smells of a fire.  In fact it would appear that there were three separate fires all around Giolou where our friends have their dog boarding kennels and where Stray Haven is a home to nearly 100 abandoned dogs.  As far as we know both managed to escape unscathed.

For most of the day the sky was awash with aircraft trying to battle the blazes.  Spotter planes, water planes and helicopters going back and forth doing their best to get the fires under control.  The sound is unmistakable and un-nerving and John was explaining how dangerous it is for the helicopter pilots to collect the giant buckets of water and dispense them.

By early evening the droning sound of the firefighting planes seemed to stop so hopefully this meant that the fires had been dealt with.  We would expect to see the spotter aircraft doing its rounds to make sure and tomorrow they will probably be back checking that there are no further outbreaks.  Let's hope that there has been minimal toll on the wildlife.  There isn't a great amount here in the first place and what there is has to contend with the constant threat of hunters so a fire is just a double whammy.