Fire! The worst nightmare for farmers!
Stormy winds have driven the fire into our direction and the farmers gathered after a fire alert was sent out!
It is a fearsome sight for farmers to view an oncoming fire. The danger is that all of their hard work can be destroyed in an instant and millions will be flushed down the drain. A failed crop can be budgeted for, but a fire driven by angry winds is a totally different story.
I will relate the story in the pictures below.
Here we are at the head of the fire and you can see the smoke rolling into an orchard!
The wind drives the fire sparks ahead of the smoke and here it has flamed up at the northern side of the bridge that I am standing on!
The guys were down with their hoses to saturate the sparks and the area with water!
We had to get out of the way and as I type this now, through the window, I can thankfully see rain clouds that are starting to appear in the sky overhead.
Thousands of hectares of arable land are lost to fires every year in our country. Some fires are started by the searing heat and others by disgruntled people in a vengeance act. Last year many properties were lost and great damage occurred in a huge fire at one of the coastal regions. But under these conditions the nation stands together to help each other and to rebuild the destroyed properties. If only...……..
Thank you for visiting a post by @papilloncharity
Team South Africa banner designed by @bearone
Congratulations! Your post was selected by the @dropahead Curation Team (dCT)
Wow, I hope those farmers don't lose all their hard work :(
It is disturbing to know that there are people so vicious as to create a fire just to harm others...
@dropahead - Supporting your STEEM adventure
Quality review by the dropahead Curation Team
According to our quality standards(1), your publication has reached an score of 90%.
Well said Gabriel García Marquez: "One learns to write by writing" Keep trying, you will soon achieve excellence!
(1) @dropahead's quality standards:
- Graphic relation to the text (Choice of images according to the text)
- Order and coherence
- Style and uniqueness (Personal touch, logic, complexity, what makes it interesting and easy to understand for the reader)
- Images source and their usage license
There are some very unstable people about in life my friend. Fortunately the big storm last night helped to kill the fire. Thank you for selecting this post! Blessings!
Fires are always so scary, back in my twenties in my army days I was called out to help fire fighting a few times hard and potentially scary work,
We share this pain JJ, as incidentally we were also used as the fire brigade in the mountains when I was in the army. Dodging all kinds of animals as they fled past us at speed and a back-up column behind us to douse the sparks that the wind blew over our heads to land behind us. Very strong winds and a raging fire that lights up trees in minutes like torches is a very scary sight. Blessings!
ITs an experience I would not want to do again but I Do rememberit so well
Fires are real scary but I can imagine on a farm even more so @papilloncharity!
Agreed Lady Lizelle, it endangers lives' and many years of hard work. In fact it can destroy so much else. But as I said to a comments above, fortunately the storm last night helped to kill the fire! Blessings!
That was a blessing @papilloncharity!
I hope you were able to keep it controlled? Bless you all for your efforts.
Thank you and there was some help from mother nature, as a storm last night brought much needed rain that helped to put the fire out! Blessings!
Western Cape is taking a hard knock with fires on the rampage again, when Cape winds blow little can stop the fires running.
So sad to watch so much go up in smoke, tragic deaths in George area.
Good to hear the fires were managed in your area Stephen.
The storm last night helped Lady Joan and I agree that the George fire is a bad one. I know the area well, as I was in the army in Oudtshoorn in the 70s and a few times we had to go into those mountains to fight fires. Some of the deep ravines and dongas are almost impassible and even more so when they are lit up by flames. Blessings!
Always feel so sorry for people, animals not being able to get out of the way in time, sometimes it moves so fast.
Unbelievably fast Lady Joan. Strong sparks can travel very far at high speeds in very strong winds and I know that you have heard, or felt the power of the Cape's winds. Just the other day a big truck was flipped on a mountain pass by the wind.
It’s devastating, I can imagine.
Hope everything is good with you @papilloncharity
God bless !
Thank you for the kind care Lady Joy, everything is good with me. The storm last night helped to put the fire out. Blessings!
This is really tough job my friend..
Beautiful photographs..
More tough for the brave guys with the hoses and also the brave farmers my friend. Fortunately it is now finished! Blessings!