Paphos Life

Around noon today there was a grass/undergrowth fire on the outskirts of Polemi.. The fire was regrettably caused by me
This post is twofold.. One to warn against having even the smallest rubbish fire in these dry conditions..
This fire was caused by having a fire in a drum and the sparks/flames spreading to a fair sized area of undergrowth.
The second part is to thank the Stroumbi fire brigade for attending promptly, and extinguishing the fire.
First of all they sent a self contained 4X4 with a pressurised water pump and water tank. And following that a full sized fire engine attended.
The burnt area is about the size of a small house.. but fortunately it was well away from our dwelling..
So, no more fires by me.. And I am very thankful for the fire brigades attendance

Any fire one should avoid now as it is so hot and early summer appeared. Even lighting your BBQ at home or picnic sites can be a problem and come out of control. You are not alone with that experience. It happened to me as well in the 80s', when I started to burn some dry weeds outside my house on the road when suddenly the wind came up without any notice. It was spreading so fast that I could not believe. Luckily there was still a big pile of gravel leftover from building the house and a shovel I had already with me so I just managed to stop the fire before it started to spread towards Akamas. It told me a lesson and I never started a fire again late in the year. A year later a large bush fire came towards my property and there was only time to get the 2 cars, some documents and leave the place. It was ever so frightening and noisy when the fire wall came closer and closer to my house. The Polis Fire brigade came after 10 minutes and was able to stop the fire in front of the house and also it helped that suddenly the wind changed its direction away from us.

Max

Hopefully Trev you donate some money to the local fire brigade as they usually are all volunteers.

I started a bbq the other day but had to turn the hose on it because the wind was beginning to pick up.

Well done for having the balls to admit it here though Trev. It is a good reminder for anybody thinking of having a garden fire at the moment.

During the current 32ºc weather that Paphos is enjoying, local winds can be very unpredictable indeed. Mostly due to thermals slowly drifting through.

Imagine them as a near-invisible 'twister' starting at ground level and carrying warm air up into the skies above, in a fairly tight vertical twisting pattern. High winds can be generated, first from one direction, then soon after, from the opposite direction (as the thermal wafts through your locale).

They are impossible to predict and quite hard to spot. A couple of tell-tales would be a small white puffy cloud at the top of the thermal. Another sign is birds apparently 'gliding' but still gaining altitude, using a tight circular flight pattern up the thermal. This is why glider pilots like thermals so much, when embarking on long cross country flight routes in Summer. I believe they have a special instrument that alerts them to a a surrounding thermal.

I would still feel safe lighting a BBQ, so long as someone armed with a decent hosepipe and a good water supply is in close attendance throughout, as Dom pointed out. It would be nice if Devil cares to comment or expand upon my thermals theory...

Cheers- AL

As usual, I thought burning garden waste in a 40 gallon drum would be OK... But of course it was not..
Stroumbi do have a manned fire station, which fortunately is just 4 or 5 minutes away..
You do wonder if they will be able to find you when you are a bit out in the country, but they would have been able to see the smoke.
It is a warning call which I will heed... We have had closer fires when much larger areas have been on fire right up to our gateway (not my fault).. It is worrying when you have a timber framed bungalow
But I have learnt my lesson..

You and Hilary, the pets and your home are all ok Trev, that the main. Well done Stroumbi fire brigade

On the Industrial State near Anarita there is an accident waiting to happen. On a piece of waste ground there is a small metal skip, just past the car scrappage place. It is in the middle of a field. A couple of weekends ago, a blazing fire was coming out of this skip, with plumes of black smoke. When we went past it again, it was half full of black ash.

It is now filling up with card and no doubt will be lit again and a few car tyres will be burnt. It is near to new concrete warehouses which are clad, and fairly close to Peter Morton's.

Trev, glad you are all OK.