Carrying straight on from yesterday......the following morning I got up before day break to go to the top of the highest spot around....near us, anyway..... there's a track to the top which is almost drivable, so at 5.30am on the 24th I got up, drove halfway up the track, and then after that it was walking the steepest part, torch in hand, cameras and tripod on my back. The wind was still howling and as I neared the top and became more exposed the wind became ever more vicious.
When I finally made it to the top I could see the fires still blazing, further away from me now, much further - which I guess was a relief in itself, but not much of one - because the flames were surely now engulfing Pedralba to the south and the ravines and valleys around Chulilla to the north.
The TV later said that Pedralba had also been evacuated and the pictures showed some burned out houses and cars. Terrible scenes! One rather poignant scene was of a young guy, 30ish, who'd invested in bees to make some money but also to help the environment. He lost everything and was shown surveying the charred remains of his hives.
Okay, so no-one died, and in the scale of things the loss of few beehives is not a major disaster and maybe that's true. But I wouldn't have liked it to have been me! Many others lost houses, businesses, crops and much, much more. Perhaps the only good news, so far as I know, no-one died.
Small mercies, eh?
So, back on the mountain I surveyed the scene. Everywhere was very smoky and that obscured the view a lot, but by way of comparison I had actually been to this very spot the evening before the fire had started and so I knew that from where I stood normally I could see, even on a hazy day, at least 30kms. But today, no! The sun was not even beginning to show and I should have been able to see the lights of many of the local pueblos (Figure 1.) but as it was I could barely see fifth of that distance (Figure 2.)
Figure 1. Shot the evening before the fire started you can see clearly the lights of Lliria and Benisano at the top of the scene. It had been hot, 35 plus, that day and it was hazy. On a clear day (for reference purposes!) you can see the city, harbour and ocean in detail. The stripe of white down the middle is the traffic on the CV35, the main highway to Valencia. In the foreground to the right of the CV35 are the lights of Domeno.
Figure 2. I have shifted the camera angle and I am also taking a much wider look here but the view is basically the same. On the right now is the CV35 withe lights of Domeno visible and on the right are the approaching fires. Everything beyond was not visible.
As the sky started to brighten I could see that the reason for the obscured view was as I had feared. It was all smoke (Figures 2, 3 & 4.) from one side of the plain to the other. As it rose the fires were even tinting the smoke red. At first I thought it was the sun, but it didn't appear for another half an hour so it couldn't have been.
Figure 3. The same camera angle as before.
Figure 4. On the left here is Casinos, the nearest pueblo to us on the way into the city. On the left the eerie red smoke cloud hangs above Domeno.
Figure 5. The cloud went high enough to cause the approach routes to the city airport to be altered temporarily.
To the north the fires had not advanced as far but still sent up its fair share of the smoke. It was clear now that he area surrounding Chulilla was burning (Figure 6.) with the smoke being swept along by the wind with fast moving clouds above (Figure 7.)
Figure 6. A single plume of smoke rises from Chulilla and spreads itself across the plain.
Figure 7. As the sun finally rose the smoke looked like low lying clouds except that I could smell the burning even from where I was!
I left the mountain top with a heavy heart. I needed to go and see if things were as bad I imagined. I wasn't hopeful as I plodded back down the track for 'me brekky'. I just had to cross everything and hope.
An hour or so after eating I set off again with the trouble and strife navigating! Luckily I knew where we were going so, Phew!, that was a relief!! - It's important to retain a sense of humour in troubled times, and I'd demonstrated my sense of humour perfectly by allowing the Missus along!! (Only joking baby if you read this! No violence - please!)
Seriously now - We headed off down the road towards Villar del Arzobispo, then on to Llosa del Obispo. I knew that by now all the approach roads to Chulilla would be closed down so we wouldn't be able to get very close. And so it proved....as we went through Llosa the through-road was blocked off by the Guardia. There were scores of people there watching as helicopters dumped load after load of water as the flames chewed up the mountains surrounding Chulilla (Figures 8-13.).
Figure 8. This flat-topped mountain, a famed place locally to watch the sunset, was completely black.
Figure 9. The fires were now charging down the lower slopes of the mountain.
Figure 10. It was horrible to watch. Normally I cycle past where the road block is and down the side of the valley to sweep round where the fires now blazed and into the back of Chulilla the opposite side of the black mountain.
Figure 11. Helipcopters kept dropping their cargo but the effect seemed little from this distance. However, now, having been down that road (tomorrows blog) I can see that I was wrong. The fire made it as far as the road in odd places but in the main the helicopters appear to have arrested the fires before they could get close to the road and the town itself.
Figure 12. 1.- Just round where the arrow indicates lies the pueblo of Chulilla.
2.- The Chulilla ravine where we go to swim. Absolutely beautiful and very close to the flames.
3.- The top of the next mountain after Chulilla was blackened as well.
There is a small mountain pass over there that leads down to Sot de
Chera which the TV had said was also in danger. I have yet to see for
myself.
Figure 13. A tragedy to behold.
Back tomorrow with more. See ya!
