04.30 hrs, Saturday 14th September 2019, Bev and I are awoken by thumping on our door and the cries of, Elainie shouting, "OUT, OUT, OUT!!!!" What the f**k? It didn't, however, take too long to suss the predicament. FIRE, BIG FIRE, and burning all around our apartment complex. The smoke was thick and choking, the skies illuminated by the glow of the flames as two fires roared, out of control, in the olive groves and agricultural/ scrub land within the Lourdas boundaries. The closest the flames came was around 400 m from Saoulas, however, strong winds were depositing ash into the pool and threatening further fires. The fire on the lower slopes was all together a bigger incident and threatened the safety of many properties between Lourdas and Kanali beach.
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| Camera settings all over the place, thus a very blurred image of the blaze before the planes could get airborne. |
Happily, if that's the right terminology, no-one was injured in this latest demonstration of environmental vandalism. These fires are not the result of a casual cigarette end tossed from a car window, oh no! This is blatant arson, carried out in the quest for the mighty dollar. Land can only be developed, have a change of use, if no longer suited to the agriculture. By deliberately setting fire to the parched lands, between existing developments, these mercenary, land grabbing, developers pursue their, dollar driven, manifestos virtually immune to any type of justice?
At it's most intense their were five aircraft plus, a significant number of land based, appliances from around the various island resorts fighting these blazes. At no time did anyone at Saoulas feel in any danger, Elainie's actions were purely precautionary. I couldn't help myself and, along with Craig and Billy, grabbed the camera kit and took a wander down to survey the scene for ourselves. The images that accompany this post are the results.
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| The early morning scene as viewed from the Saoulas pool |
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Billy watches on as the local fire crews douse the smoking olive groves next to the
main road in Lourdas |
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| The smouldering scene in the valley below The Andromeda restaurant. |
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