Chulilla - The Aftermath.

Hiya!
Without any preamble let's get straight to the business in hand.........yesterday I finished after having just visited Chulilla.  But now it was time to see what damage had been done elsewhere.

Again there was no real possibility of getting up close and personal the fires, so I opted for the next best thing and left the CV35 to take a mud track which ran more or less parallel to the highway so that we were driving through a thin band of woodland that lies sandwiched between the highway and the fires.

As we drove down the track it soon became very obvious that the extent of the destruction was far more apparent and widespread than it had been around Chulilla.  Fires were visible at almost every turn of the track - to try and estimate the number of blazes would be impossible and again we stopped to watch the disaster unfolding before our eyes (Figures 1-3).

Figure 1.  The tops of almost every hill and ridge were swathed in smoke.  This was just one of many sadly.

Figure 2.  The wind was still blowing a gale and occasionally we saw the fires flare bright orange as the wind whipped it into a fury.

Figure 3.  This fire was burning its' way back down the slopes of the ridge against the wind.

The whole thing was depressing and sad.  After a time I couldn't stand it any longer and went home.

I don't know exactly how many fires we had had locally during this summer but however many it was, it was way too many.  The TV said this fire had destroyed about 7,000 hectares in the end.  The big fire at Andilla earlier this summer 70,000 hectares.  But it seemed that almost every day a new fire was being reported on the local news, many of them small, manageable and perhaps charring only a few hundred hectares - hardly worth mentioning in the scale of things - but some days there were 5, 6 or more of these happening.  

When I stand on my terrace and decide which route I am going to cycle that particular day, I think about the wind direction, the temperature and also the beauty that I may get to take in.  Now, it doesn't matter which way I go, if I want to cycle mountain routes locally, then every single direction has been burned to a crisp this summer.  There isn't a single route that isn't charred, stinking and ravaged.

Climate change has Spain towards a much drier, hotter future.  Some say that within 50 years large parts of Spain will be reclassified as desert regions.  As Murphy's Law would have it, 2 days after making the rounds and taking the photos above, the drought which had lingered on for just a few days short of 18 months, broke and the past weekend we were treated to rainfall on a massive scale - which in itself caused flooding, deaths and more mayhem.  But that, as they say, is another story.

The rain has finally put paid to the threat of fires until next year, when it may all start again.  I realise how lucky we have been this year in truth.  Our tiny valley was the only region left untouched by fire this summer and despite their close proximity the fires did not affect us directly.  But will we be as lucky again next summer?

The rain continued to fall in torrents for 3 days and finally doused the last remaining fires around Chulilla and Pedralba.  But the cost had been high, for the environment, the Spanish pocket and the people who have been affected by the fires.  When the rain abated yesterday I went off to see the damage.

Figure 4.  1.- Chulilla.

2.- The factory where the fire is thought to have started.  

The big flat-topped mountain is now bald.  There is nothing left.

Figure 5.  Normally lush and verdant in the valley with the mountains swathed in shrubs and small pines.  Now again...... all gone.

Figure 6.  The river valley below Chulilla was a favourite place for tourists.  There were countless places beside the river for picnic and/or swimming.  It was always shady, verdant and pleasant with banks overcrowded with bamboo growing to the height of a house.  But today, all the bamboo is gone, the river banks are thick with ash and the water is polluted.

Figure 7.  The factory where the fire may have started.  Amazingly it looks untouched!

Figure 8.  The factory is set in the side of the valley with Chulilla behind it and the flat-topped mountain in front.  All the trees you see here are dead.

Figure 9.  The flat-topped mountain in close up....you can see all there is left are blackened rocks and charred soil. 

Figure 10.  Chulilla before the fires.....I hope you can see clearly how the mountains are covered in vegetation.

1.- Chulilla.

2.- The factory.

Figure 11.  The mountain now devoid of life.

Figure 12.  Black, black and more black.

Figure 13.  Not a hugely spectacular photo but one that illustrates the new status quo around Chulilla.

Figure 14.  This is an area of national park, a place of beauty and serenity and a fine place for a walk.  But now that is ended.  In every direction the story was the same - destruction!  The area seen here is normally a small parkland place with benches, tables and BBQ areas - but no more! 

Tomorrow I shall go over to Pedralba, Bugarra and Gestalgar to survey the damage.  I'll be back with that news very soon.

Ciao!

Forest fires ravage beautiful Chulilla. More news....

Hey!
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!

Forest fires ravage beautiful Chulilla - Thousands more hectares destroyed.

Hiya!
I've been missing for a while, but no apologies.......some things are more pressing than writing a blog!

And straight away it's back to the same old story I'm afraid.  During the afternoon of the 23rd my neighbour pottering about on his roof called my attention to a huge pillar of smoke rising up behind our houses (Figure 1.) and as you can see from the photo it looked like it was just the other side of the hill!  'Bloody hell!,' I thought, 'not again!'

I jumped on my bike immediately and set off to investigate.  The Poniente, the name given to the prevailing wind, had been blowing exceptionally strongly all day, and cycling into that wind to get in a position where I could see the fire was like riding with the brakes on, but within minutes it became obvious to me that the fire was farther away than I had originally thought.  Phew!  But then....shit....I could see the mountains opposite me, looking south-east, some 7 or 8kms away, were aflame, and even as I watched the wind was whipping the fire up, egging it on to take a bite of the next tree, and the next, and the next.  But strangely the fire wasn't only progressing in the direction of the wind - almost due south - but was also working its way northwards so that thsoe flames were heading almost directly towards the holiest of holies - Chulilla.

Chulilla is one of the village gems locally, a charming pueblo tucked away in a picture postcard ravine and what's more, almost the last remaining of my favourite cycling haunts that had not been burned to a crisp this summer!  I couldn't believe it.  I went back home feeling somewhat relieved that the fire was the other side of the highway and would probably not be able to make the jump across, but at the same time I was sick at the destruction that would undoubtedly follow in the days to come.  I wish I could say that that feeling had been misguided, but sadly it wasn't.

Figure 1.  The time was 5.26pm on the 23rd.  And the house you can see is my neighbours.

Figure 2.  Convoys of emergency vehicles rolled past...hundreds of them.....

Figure 3. .....as others have finished for the night and head off home.

Later that night after we'd eaten we jumped in the car and set off to see how things were going.  It was about 11 when we parked up the first time on the lower slopes of a small mountain behind our neighbours house.  he red glow had been plainly visible from our house so as walked up to gain a better prespective I feared the worst.

The wind was still howling and I had to literally stand on the feel of my tripod to keep it from blowing over - I kid you not!  As we had made the short climb I had not looked behind me deliberately, as if not looking might make it not so bad when I eventually did look.  But I don't think it worked, because when I turned round the devastation was immense.  

Standing a few hundred meters further away than I had been earlier on my bike I still couldn't fit all the fires into a single 18mm camera shot!  Instead of the single fire I'd seen some four hours earlier, I now saw a string of fires that stretched out over 11kms of mountain and ridge tops.  

To the south, the fires had moved rapidly having been fanned by the winds and appeared to be descending on the areas around Bugarra, Gestalgar and maybe Pedralba, all beautiful, all rich in agriculture and also peppered with the residences of many ex-pats, some of whom I know (Figures 4 & 5.).  It was unreal how far the fires had moved, the lives it must have already destroyed.  I just turned away to look in the opposite direction.  It's hard to know what to think a those times.

Figure 4.  These fires were furthest away from where we stood, maybe 8 or 9kms.  To the naked eye the flames were clearly visible but to capture it with camera I had to use a long exposure, hence the furry fires!  These flames appeared to be moving on Domeno.

Figure 5.  This line of fire appeared to be moving on Bugarra, Gestalgar and Pedralba.

But it was no better to the north.  The fires there had not moved so rapidly but they were definitely very, very close to Chulilla if not on top of it (Figure 6.) - I later found out that the pueblo had already been evacuated and was in the same school where the evacuees from the previous fires had been, the college in Villar del Arzobispo only 3 kms to my right as I stood.  The volunteers there deserve medals!

Figure 6.  Chulilla was burning as the moon shone above.  I just hoped no-one was hurt.

This fire was closest to us and so appeared to burn the brightest, though my heart was descending into darkness.  Chulilla and perhaps Sot de Chera, two of the most beautiful places I have ever seen were being altered forever before my eyes.  And not, most certainly not in a good way.

More tomorrow.

Fires still going close to home.

Hiya!
So....where were we?  Friday

Hah!  I know......Michael was just about to be snuffed out!

Well, as you probably gathered he hadn't shuffled off his mortal coil.....in fact, he was sitting reading a book with his back to all the fuss and was completely oblivious as to the peril he was in.

"Fire?  What bloody fire?"

Michael had been sitting with his back to the fire only venturing to look the other direction when his beer can ran dry!  Even the overwhelming smell of smoke seemed to be little more than 'a bar-B gone wrong!'

But I eventually managed to push him into the car and showed him what the rest of Valencia had been watching all afternoon (Figures 1-6).

Figure 1.  The growing smoke cloud behind our house.
 

Figure 2.  From the cement works it looked like the whole valley was on fire and from where I stood, I imagined Michael's house, with him inside, underneath all that! 

Figure 3.  We drove round the corner into the next valley.  The fire was stretching in a neat line all the way from one side, down the escarpment, across the valley floor and up the other side.

Figure 4.  And what was more....it seemed to be moving fast.  Michael lives a short way to the left of this fire.  The wind was blowing it away from him but even so we were both very pessimistic at this time.

 

 
Figure 5.  There was one solitary house in the way.  I'm sure it is completely burned out now.  I'll go back to check soon. 

Figure 6.  The devastation was immense but at that moment the scale of the ecological disaster was far from our minds.  We were somewhat preoccupied worrying about survival!  All Michael could say was, "Fuck me!  I had no idea!"

Somehow we managed to survive that day.  The wind died down in the late afternoon, as did the firefighting efforts.  On no occasion throughout this fire did we hear or see the firefighters working after dark!  By this time questions were beginning to be asked of the local Valenciano government.  Were they doing enough to halt the progress of the fires?  Why did they not work through on the Thursday and Friday nights to quell the flames when they were still small enough to deal with?  Was it incompetence, bankruptcy, mismanagement or some weird combination of all three!  On the face of it the local government were doing the right things!  There they were on TV fighting the fight, saying the right things (or was it just paying lip-service?), and apparently doing the right things.  But why o' why o' why didn't they continue to fight the fires with all their might whilst the daylight lasted?  I cannot answer that and can only state what I saw quite clearly each and every day.

As the clock ticked relentlessly on and the fires marched to the tune of the southerly breezes the flying fire fighters did their best.  I am in no way criticising the bravery and dedication of these intrepid men and women.  Tragically two helicopter pilots died over the weekend fighting fires a 100km to the south in Cortes de Pallas.  My respects and condolences go to their families and friends.

Nevertheless, many people have lost everything and they, more so than me, are entitled to ask why the fire fighting stopped for siesta and why, with over 4 hours of daylight remaining, did the planes and helicopters stop flying every day when the fire was at it's height?  And why were the fires left to rage and rampage across the vineyards, the cultivated fields, the national parks and mountaintops all night, every night?

I heard a rumour that the helicopters didn't have lights!

"Oh, well, that's alright then!!  No lights so they cannot see!  But hang on, so why stop at 5.30pm then, when it's still light?"

These rhetorical conversations with myself must stop.....but then who else was I going to ask these questions of?  And more than that, who else was going to provide the answer?

"Oh I see....the football was on...now I understand!  Priorities my friend!  A simple case of priorities!  That mountain was going to burn anyway, so what difference does it make if I fight it or go to the bar?"

"Well, when you put it like that....I guess I understand?  Was it a good match?"

"Oh, I dunno!  I was too pissed to see it anyway.  But we won, so you know what that means?  That's right, no work on Monday!!!"

I am joking here, but there really is no excuse for much of the destruction.  When the fires were (relatively) small and may have been contained they were left to grow and blacken the skies of the city.  By Sunday ash was falling over Valencia in steady stream, almost as if a volcano had erupted.  And the fires were all but out of control.

Sunday morning I went out for a drive again, taking the same route I had traveled with Michael the day before.  Luckily for us, the relative chill and humidity of the previous night had put paid to the worst of the fires near us and for the first time I began to feel that we were out of danger.  The focus of the fires had shifted across to the mountains and ridge-tops opposite us where the fires raced down the Calderona mountains towards the coast.  Somewhere up behind us, probably around Andilla, the fires burned on, though the stifling smoke of the previous 2 days had now subsided, for us anyway.  Even so, small pockets of resistance still remained.  As I came to the northern side of the ridge-top behind Michael I found one such pocket.

Figure 7.  As we came round a bend in the track we could smell smoke and there was a lone fire engine watching the fire on the hillside.

Figure 8.  The whole valley was full of smoke on what was a clear, sunny day elsewhere.


Figure 9 (below).  As we went to move on our friend Julio, the shepherd, arrived.  He was asking the firemen what was happening with the fighting but didn't really get any suitable answers.  He was, understandably, very worried because his corral where his sheep are left at night, was just up the valley no more than 4-500m away.





 
Figure 10 (above).  Julio and I (foreground) part company for the moment after discussing the problem.  Julio, ever the optimist, made me smile with his 'never-say-burn' attitude!  Optimism is a good thing....but can sometimes misplaced.  That afternoon the fire swept up the valley (Figures 18-20) to the left burning everything in it's path and beat a door right to the threshold of Julio's corral.


Figure 11 (below).  The ridge-top that had been aflame the day before (see Figure 4 above) was now nothing but blackened stumps and piles of ash.

Figure 12.  All afternoon on Sunday lines of sea planes fought the flames at Andilla.

Figure 13.  As the danger died down for us I watched as the flames moved down the Calderona mountains towards the coast. 

 

Figure 14.  As the sunlight faded the extent of the fires on the Calderonas became clear.  The TV news was saying the fires had crept over the peaks and out of our view and were now ravaging the lush, green valleys of Palencia and the beautiful towns therein.

Figure 15.  ......and the fires rage on.

The following morning (Monday) I walked back round to roughly where we'd seen the fire engine the day before.  Once again we bumped into Julio who told us that he'd been coming to work on his moped when he'd seen some people trying to stamp out a small fire.  He'd stopped to help and had been fire fighting with his bare hands and walking stick - his blackened arms bearing witness to his endeavours - as he told us that things were far from secure and that both Michael and his corral were still in danger.  As we wandered down to where he'd told us the fire was we saw the smoke (Figure 16).

Figure 16.  Smoke rising from amongst what remained of the forested slopes.

Figure 17.  How the forest was before the fires struck.

Figure 18.  As we walked down the valley, the forest that, just the day before had been lush and green, had been reduced to a smouldering, smoking mound of blackened stumps and ash.

Figure 19.  All the way up the side of the ridge the ground was white, as if it had been snowing.

Figure 20.  In some places there was very little left standing at all.  It all had a very sort of 'end of days' type of feeling!  Very odd!

Figures 21-28.  It was just a small pocket of fire but was on the only remaining forested part of this side of the valley.  Everywhere else was already burned out.  It could only go up this slope or back behind us onto the ridge on which Michael lives and beyond that, where we are.

Figure 21.  Above.

Figure 22.

Figure 23.

Figure 24.

Figure 25.

Figure 26.

Figure 27.

Figure 28.

We continued down the path and very soon saw the reason for all the smoke.  It was only a small fire (I'm sure, by comparison) but even so it still looked like it had potential to spread and possibly endanger Julio's property once again.  We stayed for 10 minutes during which time both Michael and I wondered aloud how there was no-one here to even watch if the fire might spread once again (Figures 21-28).  But as we walked away we heard one of the sea planes coming in for a closer look.  It circled round and as Julio came down to join us again it dropped it's payload on the fire (Figure 29 & 30).

Figure 29.  Julio clambers up the side to snuff out any wisps of smoke with his walking stick and hands.

Figure 30.  The seaplane circled round first of all......

Figure 31.  ....and then dumped it's payload right where we'd been standing not 5 minutes before.

Tomorrow I'll be back with more updates, more pics and hopefully, some video of the fires.

Have a good day
Peter XX