UNnatural disaster

Portugal is burning. It happens every single summer- more and more hectares of beautiful pine forests reduced to ash. I honestly don't even know how there is ANYTHING left to burn when a couple of years ago sooo much was in flame that even water bombing planes had to come in from Germany to supplement those already in use, here.


Today (and dang, I left my camera card at home, so no pic!) Malia and I watched 2 planes scooping into the ocean and taking off loaded with tonnes of salt water that, hopefully, would be successful in putting out a small portion of the destruction before coming back and refilling. It was graceful, it was majestic and it was scary as hell, especially since they returned amazingly quickly, making it very clear that the destination wasn't in some remote mountain, but right here, in my backyard.

It's been 2 months since rain has fallen in Portugal- at least here in the Beira Litoral- things are dry, very dry and more importantly, people are careless, some even intentionally destructive, I'm sad to say. I am not sure about this year, but in others, people have died, trapped by flames in their remote homes. News coverage here can be incredible graphic and the image of an old man, sitting in a chair, a charred cadaver is as clear for me today, as when I saw it on television about 5 years ago.

In 2003, I remember sitting on a friend's balcony in Port de Mos, on my left the view was a gorgeous white, fairytale like castle, and on my right a range of low mountains. As night fell, we suddenly realized that the greyness over it, that we'd mistaken for a low cloud, had a deadly source- a fire was winding its way up the mountain- the flames now fully visible.
As I type this, the news has come on, and is full of the latest fires. I hear firetrucks, and the planes.

I am not afraid- we are not in any danger, but I am sad. It's absolutely needless waste, destruction, and one day there will be nothing left to burn. And then, then what will Portugal be?