Meanwhile, in Lightwater ...

[dizzojay]

I know what you're thinking... 'Dizzo's looking at pictures of Jensen again.  But alas, no.





Where I live, we are lucky to be surrounded by beautiful heathland.  The clue's in the name, after all - the area is called Surrey Heath.  This means that, unfortunately, Heath fires are an annual hazard that we just have to live with, particularly after a dry spell as we've been having recently.  There are three main areas of heathland that border my village, Lightwater, and all of them are prone to going up in smoke occasionally; Chobham Common, Lightwater Country Park and the military ranges. 

When this fire first started yesterday afternoon, we knew it wasn't the country park, the smoke was coming from the wrong direction. When a few people who live at the southen end of the village started posting on Facebook that they had heard a couple of 'small explosions' we knew the fire was on the ranges - that often happens if a bit of unexploded ordnance is laying around during a heath fire, so army and civilian firefighters have been in attendance since yesterday afternoon. 

This was the view from my house yesterday evening:



By this morning, it seems the fires were mostly extinguished and just smouldering, but firefighters would remain in attendance during today because the day was forecasted to be breezy, and this could set pockets of the fire off again.

So that was our bit of bank holiday excitement for sleepy Lightwater!

Comments

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Wow! Hope you are safe! (And unexploded ordnance sounds very scary!)

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

We are thank you. Although there are some houses that border the heath areas, our house is fairly central in the village, and only once in the 27 years I've lived there has the fire got within a road width of our garden. And obviously, long hot dry spells in the UK aren't all that frequent!!! :D

We do have a lot of military land around us, and we often hear gunfire as the army are doing their manoeuvres. I don't know much about firearms and ordnance, but I know whenever we go walking over the heathland that includes the military ranges, there are big signs warning you against straying from the pathways, dogs have to be kept on leads etc!

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was a bit of excitement for you! I hope the fires never get too close to you. Here are 2 chaps who can help if you need them...

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

We are thank you. Although there are some houses that border the heath areas, our house is fairly central in the village, and only once in the 27 years I've lived there has the fire got within a road width of our garden. I'd be very happy for these to gentlemen to come and fight the fires!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I know heath fires are all part of how they regenerate but combined with unexploded ordinance, it sounds a tad risky! Glad to hear it was under control so quickly.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

You're right, we often see patches of burned land up the country park where the rangers have been doing some regenerative work. However, I think this fire was down to 'good' old fashioned stupidity :(
The firefighters had it under control by the end of the evening, and they kept a presence all through the next day because it was so breezy!

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the fire seems to have settled! Stay safe!

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Yes, drama all over now - until the next time.

Thankfully long hot and dry spells in the UK aren't all that frequent!!!!!

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

Oh I do hate seeing smoke from fire. The smell alone is hard to deal with and it makes the air quality just horrible. Hope the smoke clears out quickly and no more fires. Something always exciting going on isn't there?