The Great Fire of Montazels

Now I would be the first to admit that normally the contents of my blogs, whilst amusing, entertaining, and informative, are never normally newsworthy in a national sense. That cannot be said about this one, so standby for some serious journalism.

It all started about 3 in the afternoon when dad and I were cleaning the pool. All of a sudden sirens from all the surrounding fire stations were sounding. We guessed a big accident or something but then mum came round to say that there was some serious smoke appearing from over the hill. As we watched, the sound of lots of fire engines could be heard tearing off to somewhere.



I think we realised the situation was somewhat serious when two fire fighting planes appeared and started making passes over the smoke. Curiosity got the better of us so we all piled in the car and drove up the dirt road towards Antugnac, in the general direction of the smoke. There were already a number of cars and voyeurs up there and we soon saw that there was a major bush/forest fire developing on the large hill opposite. Some 12 or so special fire appliances used for forest fires were already there and a mobile command post had been set up.


As we watched the fires grew at an amazing speed fanned by the increasing wind. In addition to sweeping up the hill, the fires were also being driven towards the actual village of Montazels. Still more fire fighting planes appeared with seven aircraft taking it in turns to dump their loads of fire retardant chemicals and water on the worst of the fires. I even did my bit by peeing on everything in sight! Another plane constantly circled over the area, presumably relaying info on the fires’ spread to control. A fire service helicopter joined in, and the skies above our house were busier than Farnborough during the flying displays (or so dad said).



With the fire now heading dangerously in the direction of Montazels, some of the appliances were despatched to protect properties in the path of the fire and some of the planes dropped their loads between the fires and the properties. My good friends, Uncle Martin and Aunty Val, were told to pack some things and be prepared to be evacuated if necessary. Fortunately the wind changed a bit so this was not necessary, but then the fires were heading towards Domaine St Jaques, the winery owned by my good mates Daniel and Francois.



The next morning dad and I had our usual promenade up amongst the vineyards to find only small areas still smoking. Being nosey, we took a drive down to St Jaques to find that the fire had come right down the hill to within about 300m. No wonder the planes were focussing hard on that point towards the end of the day.

At the end of it all, despite being one of the biggest fires in the region this year, nobody was injured and no major properties were damaged. Our thanks go out to the more than 100 pompiers (firemen) and the brave pilots for their sterling efforts in thwarting what could have been a serious situation for our area.

Phew – this journalistic work fair knackers one so I’m off for my usual well earned kip. Speak to you all again soon.