Butt Out

Last weekend Spain saw the frightening spectra of forest fires taking lives, severely injuring people, destroying homes and devastating countryside and wildlife. It is now clear, beyond doubt, that the two fires that raged were started by carelessly discarded cigarette ends.

 We have just had the driest winter in living memory, the hottest June, the temperatures are soaring. You only have to look around you to see how tinder dry the countryside is and some thoughtless fool casually throws a cigarette out of their vehicle. Lord above it just makes you despair does it not.

If you have ever seen a place that has been razed to the ground by a wild fire you will never forget it. We were profoundly affect by the sites we saw in parts of the Australia state of Victoria that suffered on Black saturday 7 February 2009. Areas we knew well, and had visited only months before the fires stood like barren moonscapes, stark reminders of that dreadful day.

If you drive along the Spanish motorways you cannot fail to see the flashing signs. You do not need to speak the language to know a triangle ( warning) sign with a cigarette crossed through is not telling you smoking is banned on the motorway. It IS telling you to be extra careful what you do with the butt. So lets hope and pray all smokers will take heed and that we will have no more tragedies this summer.

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_35366.shtml

Fire Fire!!

We have been experiencing some seriously hot weather in the last few weeks and everywhere is tinder dry. There seems to be little warning here of what must be a real danger of wild fires. We are very aware of what this can mean, as our eldest daughter lives in the state of Victoria in Australia and last year we all had weeks of anxiety as fires raged all around the area she lives in, evacuation was necessary on one occasion.
However as I say we do not see many signs of official advice on what to do or indeed what not to do. I know some of the public BBQs have police tape around them and notices that they cannot be used so that's one thing at least. It appears that there are less firework displays too though there are some going on.
Other parts of spain are having large forest fires and four Fire fighters were killed near Tarragona with another two injured. There was a fire near Benidorm recently which thankfully was quickly brought under control. It surprises us that towns do not have signs saying total fire ban day etc.
The job of preventing fires is really down to us all though, in Australia property owners constantly make sure that little or no rubbish around that could help a fire spread.
Careless actions like throwing lighted cigarettes from your car or as you are out walking could so easily result in a fire starting. Leaving glass lying around in the sun is another potential hazard.
Like the Health and safety rule says, look in the mirror and you will see the person with the responsibility your health and safety.

Even today in the Vega baja area the skies where full of dark brown smoke so do check you insurance, rural properties are most at risk.

Galician forest fires

More than 2,000 forest fires, most deliberately lit, ravaged the North-Western province of Galicia in a two week period this summer, the worst fires in the province in 20 years, a regional government environment spokesman said Friday 1st September.
Galicia emergency service dealt with 2,055 fires during the first two weeks of August - up from 995 during the same period last year. Most of the fires were lit by arsonists. On Friday Police arrested a man suspected of having lit 94 fires since 2002, Two women died last month in a fire he allegedly lit.
Most of the fires raged between August 4-15 and scorched 77,000 hectares of land in a province which borders the Atlantic Ocean and is normally rain swept. Three new fires broke out in the region on Friday.
Police have arrested 52 people in connection with the fires this year. Four people have died in the fires.