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Had a bit of a shock this morning: a massive forest fire just about 500 m from my house. Tens of appliances from Nicosia and Larnaca, 2 helicopters and a spray aircraft and 200 pro firefighters. They have now brought it well under control, with most of the cavalry gone home. I haven't seen the damage but I've heard that over 1 km² of forest has been destroyed.
Rumour has it that high winds damaged a medium voltage power line that sparked it off. At the time, it was indeed very gusty (I measured up to 12.5 m/s and we are in a less exposed position than the valley where it started), so it is plausible. To reinforce this hypothesis, we were without power for >2 hours, but I don't know whether it was cause and effect or the other way round.
Happily for me, the wind was NNW and the fire was S of us, so we were not in danger but the wind often does come in the opposite direction.
AFAIK, there were no injuries and no property destroyed, although a few houses were evacuated. I await more detailed news. What I do know is that it had spread very rapidly and I could see from our patio that the helicopters and aircraft discharged their loads in various places. The firefighters were there very rapidly, including the first aircraft within 10 minutes. The helicopters took a bit longer.
It's bad enough when you see this kind of thing on the TV, but it's scary when it's on your doorstep.
Rumour has it that high winds damaged a medium voltage power line that sparked it off. At the time, it was indeed very gusty (I measured up to 12.5 m/s and we are in a less exposed position than the valley where it started), so it is plausible. To reinforce this hypothesis, we were without power for >2 hours, but I don't know whether it was cause and effect or the other way round.
Happily for me, the wind was NNW and the fire was S of us, so we were not in danger but the wind often does come in the opposite direction.
AFAIK, there were no injuries and no property destroyed, although a few houses were evacuated. I await more detailed news. What I do know is that it had spread very rapidly and I could see from our patio that the helicopters and aircraft discharged their loads in various places. The firefighters were there very rapidly, including the first aircraft within 10 minutes. The helicopters took a bit longer.
It's bad enough when you see this kind of thing on the TV, but it's scary when it's on your doorstep.
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