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Inferno

So this weekend I was dreading yet another pointless National Guard exercise. A couple of days before this exercise, a forest fire on a nearby island had gotten somewhat out of control, and around 3 in the afternoon on saturday the order came. We were to ship out and assist the police and firedepartment, helping them get control over the fire and evacuate houses that were in the path of the flames. Below are a few pictures and an account of the events, as seen by yours truly.

I really had no idea we’d be that close to the action. As it were, the firedepartment had lost control over the fire and was focusing on keeping it away from residential areas. Our team was one of the first national guard teams to be deployed, and we were immediately shipped behind the police blockades. The inferno that met us was unbelievable.

Fires were raging only a few meters from the road we were driving on, and we could feel the heat through the windshield of the truck we were in. Firefighters and volunteers were hosing down houses along the road, with walls of fire closing in from 3 directions. We arrived in a small residential area after a while, and could immediately see what the task at hand was…

Behind the group of houses the flames, aided by frequent gusts of wind, were approaching dangerously from behind a nearby hill. As we moved toward the hill, we met up with a couple of firefighters who had just moved in with a huge diesel pump, and we helped them roll out the hoses and hook up the gear. They didn’t have enough manpower to man both the pump and the 3 hoses, so we jumped in, 3 men to a hose, and went at it.

Many hours of hard work, bruises, burns and lots of smoke later we seemed to have it under control. We were all exhausted and it was getting dark and a bit dangerous to be running around in the hills. We retreated, mission accomplished.

Buuut – no sleep for the wicked. Just as we thought we’d finally get some rest and some food, we were shipped out again. This time it was the police that needed our assistance evacuating several residential areas. Thus went the night, and only around noon the next day did we finally get some sleep.

All in all a frightening yet interesting experience, in what can only be described as utter chaos and inferno. Running through this in the wee hours, firetrucks, sirens and helicopters circling around us overhead, it is all quite surreal now. Thanks to the hard work of the firefighters, national guard and volunteers, the fire claimed no human lives and caused little damage to property, despite consuming over one sixth of the island.