Through my eyes

The planes had been waterbombing the back side of the mountain range directly ahead of us, (to the South-east) the whole day, without making much headway. We were also concerned with smoke billowing from a blaze about 4 km from us coming from the North-east, with the high winds blowing from the same direction. Our neighbours, being more experienced in these matters, began to worry that the flames could be headed our way.

Come evening, (no more water bombers), instead of seeing the smoke, we were now watching the glow. We sat down to have dinner, and were about half-way through, when a friend called me saying that he heard that the fire was headed in our direction. The moment I hung up, there was a knock on our door; it was my neighbour in a panic. She led me to her yard, where we could see the flames behind a wall of pines and eucalyptus trees; the wall between us and the flames. She had her grandchildren with her because the schools had been evacuated, and they, seeing their grandmother in a panic and in tears, also began to cry, begging to be taken from there, but she was in such a state that she couldn’t dial her son, who was on the opposite end of town putting out fire around his vineyard, some of which he lost. I grabbed my phone and called him up, explaining the situation and that he needed to make his way here right away. We all pulled out our hoses and wet down the gardens and trees around our homes. But then It got there. We all watched, as the flames reached the tips of the trees in the forest about 250 m to the North-east of us. Since there has been no precipitation in about three months, the trees light up instantly. The whole forest was lit up in a minute, or two. You could feel the heat. Friends showed up to help put out the small fries that started all over the place due to the embers and flaming leaves that flew overhead in the wind. It was all one team looking out for everyone. We covered everyone’s property stamping out small flames and embers with branches and shovels and whatever else was at hand that could possibly do the job. The army of farmers with tractors loaded with water tanks were the biggest heroes, seemingly showing up out of nowhere. I battled alongside some people I had never laid eyes on, and here they were helping me keep my property from going up in smoke. Many of them, including some of my friends, had already been helping friends and family on the other end of town much earlier in the day. Next thing I know, someone tells me that a ruin that we own close to our house and even closer to some elderly neighbours had caught fire. Rushing over there, I found an unknown hero and my neighbour with his tractor and water tank pouring water into the house.

My wife and I, along with some friends, pulled our hose out to the ruin, which was somewhat short, but it helped. There was also a policeman with another hose pouring in water. I took over for him, but wasn’t there long because the other side of the house was flaming badly. While everyone else covered the properties, I hosed the ruin, because I couldn’t let it affect the two houses directly behind. Our cars were all ordered away by the police and even for that, we had friends that grabbed the vehicles and drove the away from trouble. It was a long night. So much burning, so many embers flying over our heads, and, due to it being dark, there was no depth of field; trees that were burning a couple of hundred metres away looked like they were much, much closer, but you knew that where those trees looked like they were burning, there were, in reality, no trees, but even knowing this full well, it was still just as frightening, it was as if they really were right in front of you. Then there was the noise of the fire consuming the trees. Especially in a place as quiet as ours, the sound of the fire was as frightening as everything else. Most everybody was up the whole night, for one reason or another, mostly fear. Fear, that was a startling reality, especially when looking at the faces of my son and daughter. My wife was beyond herself. Yet everybody was active, playing a helping role, without a second thought. So here we are, a couple of days later, and even as I write this today, (Wednesday), the waterbombers consistently fly overhead trying to control a fire that has been burning for the last couple of days just to the South-east, and, just now, my wife pointed out that there is smoke rising behind us once again, up where it started a couple of days ago. I hope it rains soon.
Fiquem bem,

Raul Freitas/MS