Forest fires

[Lori]

I don't know how the pompiers are coping in this heat. The protective jackets they wear are very heavy and hoses etc that they have to lug around ...

Have been thinking the same thing. I can't even imagine it. I would think the sheer magnitude of the fires will do a number on their mental health.

[Blaze]

It seems the UK is having problems too
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62232654

The French are perhaps more used to dealing with this sort of outbreak and have more resources. It must be even harder for the firemen in the UK to battle with these fires particularly in such unaccustomed heat.

[exile]

and without the back up of the Canadairs and other planes.

[Blaze]

Video footage of the destruction in Dagenham and particularly Wennington is terrible.
https://news.sky.com/story/brutal-40c-d ... s-12655350

and more from the BBC :
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62232654

[Spectrum]

Appropriate name for this thread Blaze

[Blaze]

Appropriate name for this thread Blaze

I'm only too aware ....
Blaze was one of our beloved Border Collies .... (like Veem's ....)

[jonquille]

Living in Northern California in the 80's and 90's I've had close calls from nature. Seeing fire coming over the hill near our house and the earthquake on 17th October. Because we were on the San Andreas fault line we were advised to fill a metal bin with essentials. I put photo copies of birth certs etc, insurance,torch,water,medical things including records (first aid stuff etc) pet needs,photos, strong shoes and gloves. This was before the internet was available so maybe not all necessary now. I vividly remember phoning my husband at work shouting to him to get under his desk! The phone was the only thing I managed to grab at the time and run outside (no other houses nearby)! What would you keep close at hand in an emergency - obviously family and pets.

[Veem]

Oh, don't get me started. I came across a photos of our Blaze yesterday, taken after he'd had a haircut during a heatwave and he came back looking more like his brother Blitz who died tragically in 2013. Blaze died only weeks after this last photo was taken ........ The world is so much sadder a place now.

[Headers]

The Dagenham fire houses were post war pre-fabs that had been re-clad with upvc. They literally melted.

[manonthemoon2]

The smell of smoke is here again tonight