Our ADSL line was re-established yesterday (20 Sept) and with it our landline phone. Here's a quick copy of my story of the Moiano (Le Coste) forest fire.
On the aftenoon of the 19th August La Tenuta Le Coste experienced a large forest fire. Strong south-west winds propelled the blaze into Borgo Petroio. (google "Incendio Moiano") It swept through our property, destroying my tool shed, our greenhouse, our firewood storage and our entire photovoltaic array. The family is safe and the main house has not been damaged.
Hours before the fire, Alex and I discussed the final stages of our landscaping and finish work on the house. Isolde and Thomasina have grown up here and want to keep the house while Alex and I recognize that we'd be better off with our future wheelchairs on one level. I stepped outside, saw a yellowish smoke to windward and a tiny ash in the air.
"If you think property is a safe investment, just wait a few minutes." I suggested we gather a few valuables, put them in the wine cellar; and put on good boots. I moved the car out to the lee side of the hill, pointed down and away, then hiked back up to the house to round up the family. Isolde and I ran out to the workshop for one last look at the hillside and confirmed our fears. We grabbed a couple of bikes and I took one last photo. Running back, wind whipped a towel off the drying line and it burst into flames behind us. We gathered Alex and kept running, now down to the car where the fire crews stood screaming at us.
From the safe distance of Moiano we joined the town folk watching the destruction sweep across our hillside. A great plume of black smoke rose from the location of our workshop and photovoltaic panels. A fire department helicopter dumped great bags of water on our houses but from our vantage point it seemed totally futile. The fire now covered our entire westward panorama and driven by a strong wind, seemed able to engulf the entire estate and the downwind forest. Eventually, a seaplane arrived carrying tons of water from lake Trasimeno, saving the next hillside, but our Borgo looked finished.
The vigili (fire department) evacuated all residents from their homes at the last minute and did not allow residents to return to their homes that day and the next. Many gas bombollas and lost WW2 ordinace exploded into the evening. A few hours after the main firestorm, I walked in with three other homeowners accompanied by a crew member. I instructed the crewman to follow me to our new fountain where we filled garden buckets to douse numerous stump fires that threatened to ignite the remaining banks of brush. The neighbor's buried gas tanks continued to burn spectacularly and no attempts were made to extinguish them. I located our poor lost dog and jogged back down to join the family.
In a little side drama, we had a family of house guests staying with us. They spent a day at the lake where they could see the smoke and were shocked to find it was their house that was in danger! The mayor of Castiglione del lago kindly provided free accommodation for them. We spent the first and second nights with Jenny and Mike in citta della pieve.
Our uphill nighbors had a particularly scary day. The four of them got into their car but found the driveway blocked by fire department vehicles. With flames in the tree tops, they abandoned the car and had to sit out the fire inside their house. In panic, their son was separated and ran down through the woods on the far side of the house. They remained separated for most of the day. The vigili rescued the family after two attempts and took them to C.d.Lago hospital for burn treatment. The car they tried to escape in was totally consumed and slid down the hillside where it melted.
It was traumatic for us but we're trying to be sensible and balanced in our reactions. The girls wanted to keep a distance and limit our hours in repairing damage. This proved sensible because once one begins sifting through the ash, a strange hypnosis takes over and our whole history in this house begins to unwind. The process telescopes into an infinite waste of time: scrap metal in this pile, melted glass over there, possible salvage here, toxic waste in the bucket...etc. I carefully saved some tool bits only to find them distort into spirals when I tried to use them. Best to spend a few hours at this everyday and then get out!
Luckily, we were offered the use of Amie and Marc's house on the undamaged side of the estate where we stayed for two weeks. Thomasina joined us there for her summer holiday.
You should be able to view a photo album here.
Hours before the fire, Alex and I discussed the final stages of our landscaping and finish work on the house. Isolde and Thomasina have grown up here and want to keep the house while Alex and I recognize that we'd be better off with our future wheelchairs on one level. I stepped outside, saw a yellowish smoke to windward and a tiny ash in the air.
"If you think property is a safe investment, just wait a few minutes." I suggested we gather a few valuables, put them in the wine cellar; and put on good boots. I moved the car out to the lee side of the hill, pointed down and away, then hiked back up to the house to round up the family. Isolde and I ran out to the workshop for one last look at the hillside and confirmed our fears. We grabbed a couple of bikes and I took one last photo. Running back, wind whipped a towel off the drying line and it burst into flames behind us. We gathered Alex and kept running, now down to the car where the fire crews stood screaming at us.
From the safe distance of Moiano we joined the town folk watching the destruction sweep across our hillside. A great plume of black smoke rose from the location of our workshop and photovoltaic panels. A fire department helicopter dumped great bags of water on our houses but from our vantage point it seemed totally futile. The fire now covered our entire westward panorama and driven by a strong wind, seemed able to engulf the entire estate and the downwind forest. Eventually, a seaplane arrived carrying tons of water from lake Trasimeno, saving the next hillside, but our Borgo looked finished.
The vigili (fire department) evacuated all residents from their homes at the last minute and did not allow residents to return to their homes that day and the next. Many gas bombollas and lost WW2 ordinace exploded into the evening. A few hours after the main firestorm, I walked in with three other homeowners accompanied by a crew member. I instructed the crewman to follow me to our new fountain where we filled garden buckets to douse numerous stump fires that threatened to ignite the remaining banks of brush. The neighbor's buried gas tanks continued to burn spectacularly and no attempts were made to extinguish them. I located our poor lost dog and jogged back down to join the family.
In a little side drama, we had a family of house guests staying with us. They spent a day at the lake where they could see the smoke and were shocked to find it was their house that was in danger! The mayor of Castiglione del lago kindly provided free accommodation for them. We spent the first and second nights with Jenny and Mike in citta della pieve.
Our uphill nighbors had a particularly scary day. The four of them got into their car but found the driveway blocked by fire department vehicles. With flames in the tree tops, they abandoned the car and had to sit out the fire inside their house. In panic, their son was separated and ran down through the woods on the far side of the house. They remained separated for most of the day. The vigili rescued the family after two attempts and took them to C.d.Lago hospital for burn treatment. The car they tried to escape in was totally consumed and slid down the hillside where it melted.
It was traumatic for us but we're trying to be sensible and balanced in our reactions. The girls wanted to keep a distance and limit our hours in repairing damage. This proved sensible because once one begins sifting through the ash, a strange hypnosis takes over and our whole history in this house begins to unwind. The process telescopes into an infinite waste of time: scrap metal in this pile, melted glass over there, possible salvage here, toxic waste in the bucket...etc. I carefully saved some tool bits only to find them distort into spirals when I tried to use them. Best to spend a few hours at this everyday and then get out!
Luckily, we were offered the use of Amie and Marc's house on the undamaged side of the estate where we stayed for two weeks. Thomasina joined us there for her summer holiday.
You should be able to view a photo album here.
