midnight fire fight
Well! I've been offline because we've been hovering on the verge of an evacuation of the horses most of yesterday and all of last night!
The fire started all the way over on the other side of the valley (Boyes's Drive, to anyone who knows where i live) and then the wind came up and in about 3 hours it had crossed the roads and was right above Swaanswyk, Tokai...
It roared its way above the vineyards at Steenberg (which had been, thankfully, liberally soaked by the vineyard owners the whole day since the fire started) and came horrifically close to our farm... J and i were on standby at the stables till midnight, when the wind turned.
We might as well have stayed, because neither of us got any sleep after that - J lives right there in that area, so she was watching the blaze from her house, and I couldn't see anything except a thick blanket of dark smoke across the whole valley...
it was very scary... the stables at the top of the road were evacuated and 4 houses burned to the ground :(
The south easter that blows through the valley was not helping matters, and the ash falling was thick - it was almost like a volcano explosion or something. It was dark and hot the whole night.
J and I zipped between the SAFCOL stables - who were also on standby to evacuate - and Fairhill farm (where Ex and Al and Catch and Stormy are) most of the night, but we stayed at Fairhill when we saw how close the fires were.
Thankfully, it seems to be under control now. Although, typical african mentality, they left the bits smouldering... thinking it would go out... but the wind picked up again (gale force today) and J and I watched as a huge fire surged up the mountain again, when we went for our ride this afternoon. Luckily, they still have fire engines in the area and they went roaring up the hill.
*sigh*
so, i'm a tired girl. Thankful everyone is alright.
wk
The fire started all the way over on the other side of the valley (Boyes's Drive, to anyone who knows where i live) and then the wind came up and in about 3 hours it had crossed the roads and was right above Swaanswyk, Tokai...
It roared its way above the vineyards at Steenberg (which had been, thankfully, liberally soaked by the vineyard owners the whole day since the fire started) and came horrifically close to our farm... J and i were on standby at the stables till midnight, when the wind turned.
We might as well have stayed, because neither of us got any sleep after that - J lives right there in that area, so she was watching the blaze from her house, and I couldn't see anything except a thick blanket of dark smoke across the whole valley...
it was very scary... the stables at the top of the road were evacuated and 4 houses burned to the ground :(
The south easter that blows through the valley was not helping matters, and the ash falling was thick - it was almost like a volcano explosion or something. It was dark and hot the whole night.
J and I zipped between the SAFCOL stables - who were also on standby to evacuate - and Fairhill farm (where Ex and Al and Catch and Stormy are) most of the night, but we stayed at Fairhill when we saw how close the fires were.
Thankfully, it seems to be under control now. Although, typical african mentality, they left the bits smouldering... thinking it would go out... but the wind picked up again (gale force today) and J and I watched as a huge fire surged up the mountain again, when we went for our ride this afternoon. Luckily, they still have fire engines in the area and they went roaring up the hill.
*sigh*
so, i'm a tired girl. Thankful everyone is alright.
wk
posted by whiskey_kitten at 7:50 PM
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