A right now thread

[Yambo]

Hi everyone, your concern is appreciated. Yesterday morning things changed and suddenly there were fires on the hillside above my house. The village has hills on 3 sides and the sea to the east. The hills behind the North corner where I live are steep with a lot of cliffs and re-entrants and the fires were on the edges of the cliffs. Down lower though I am surrounded by pine trees which go off like an oxy-acetylene torch.

I don't panic easy and running fuel tankers in the past and seaman trained I've done a bit of fire training so didn't rush around but checked the bag I'd already packed, added some bits, closed up the house and swam out to the boat. The lovely M joined me and we spent the evening watching the fires remain static a couple of hundred metres above my gaff.

A lot of what was burning was scrub so smouldering but around 6 am some pines over the top ridge caught and went a bit spectacular. The helicopter had just started working and dumped 3 bucket loads on it but there were other priorities I guess because they went elsewhere. It picked up again and the Russian or Ukrainian plane done 3 passes dropping a lot of water on the area. It's still burning but at the moment it's still well up the hill and around where I live is still green and lovely. I'll sleep on the boat again tonight and until it's all under control.

It could all go pear shaped of course if the wind changes but it's only things. I probably have too many things anyway. If this all goes down as terrorism I may not get an insurance claim so trust me this is just a natural event. Wear your masks

[636mick]

Very scary. Hope you guys are ok.
Mick

[Yambo]

Good morning all. Right now, I'm sat on my boat with my 2nd cup of tea for the morning. It's going to be a hot one today - 42°C which we could do without but hey ho, que sera sera.

I've slept on the boat for 3 nights now as a precaution.if the forest around my house goes up in the night I might lose the internet! Every night we've watched fires burning in the hills and Saturday night we watched a wall of fires slowly progress from the west, down the hills towards what we would call the back of the village. Every night there have been fires in the hills and gullies above my house.

Yesterday was awful. The wall of fires we'd watched was attacked by the helicpter boys and they damped it down but when they went off to refuel it decided enough was enough and it raged. Despite the best efforts of the returning helis it reached the village but both paid and volunteer firefighters had been damping down houses and trees on the edge of the forest and it was stopped. Last night the whole area was covered in smoke - Mordor style but very little actual fire to be seen. A couple of small fires in the forest around my house had been successfully tackled by locals.

I slept well last night and woke to a clear sky, no smoke, some smouldering around the back of the village and some fires higher up. A helicopter arrived, dumped some water on the worst of those then disappeared to the south where this is a bigger problem at Kumlubűk. We all have our fingers crossed that it won't flare up again today.

It has been the sruff of nightmares. Friends and others have lost their homes, a lot of our beautiful forests have gone ( but will recover I'm sure) the thosands of bee hives that are all over the forests are destroyed, untold numbers of wildlife will have perished but thankfully there has been very little loss of human life. In Turunç we have suffered a lot less than other places. This is partly because of geography, partly down to benign winds and paetly down to a huge effort by firefighters who had the time to prepare - because of the other two reasons.

We are well, the village is quiet after a few hundred people evacuated yesterday but I guess they'll be back today. We had been ordered to prepare for evacuation about 4 pm yesterday but most of the locals refused to leave their village and fought the fires.

Overused sometimes, the word heroes, but not here and now. Fucking heroes.

[Yambo]

I'm sure there is an obvious answer to this but is it possible to put fire breaks in between the houses and forrest? Surely it's worth stripping the trees back a couple of hundred metres so there is nothing to burn near the houses? You might still have to leave because of smoke but at least the houses wouldn't burn down.

It's a bureaucratic nightmare mate. This is a National Park because of the pristine pine forests and the pine honey business. The forestry department effectively 'own' most of the land so where they can, people will build as close as they can to the forrst. All of the villages, this one included were here long before the Forestry Directorate but trying to get hold of that land? Forget it.

An example. We have two cemeteries here now, the regular local one amd a small 'foreigners' plot. The local cemetery is lovely, landscaped with private money but exclusively Turkish and Muslim. I have, for a long time wanted to get the ex-pat plot tidied up and landscaped so I spoke with the guy who paid for the landscaping. He's a retired professor who wanted the place nice after he buried his son there a few years ago. He buried his wife in the same plot last week. He did a bit of investagive work and was unable to find out who owns the land the ex-pat plot sits on - is it council land or forestry? If it is council land no problem but if it is forestry then they might just say you'll have to move all the graves. It is on balance better to let sleeping dogs lie..

Currently money is being raised to support local firefighting efforts and I have a bit of respect from the locals to allow me a say in how the money is spent. It won't be to try and buy forestry land for firebreaks though, thats for sure.

The threat of forest fires is always here of course and accepted because itis grest to live in places like this but these fires this year are unprecedented. So many over such a large area in such a short period of time. We are not getting unusual temperatures, theres no real changes this year except Covid and no European tourists. Are they arson? I don't know but I hope not. It is mind blowingly stupid to burn forests. They are unprecedented though. In the previous 15 years I've lived here, we've never had a local fire and I can only remember 3 others in the Marmaris area.

Turks are notoriously fatalistic. Your house can be replaced. You die, we will bury you and we are all going to die.

[Yambo]

Turks are notoriously fatalistic. Your house can be replaced. You die, we will bury you and we are all going to die.

That's a regional thing I think, the common answer to an issue where someone might die is "Inshallah".

I never thought about fires before, when buying property I always consider flooding, urban development, the atmosphere of the local area, etc, but never thought about fires.

Fingers crossed for you mate.

Thanks. Sixteen years ago, I told my missus that the house she wanted was a big no-no. Pine trees were brushing the roof, literally the edge of the forest. The village, on the plateau between our village and Içmeler is called Dereözü. Friends who live there have, in the last couple of days lost their homes. People are saying Dereözü is 'gone' but I don't know how bad it actually is. Other villages are also 'gone' butI won't know for sure until I can get out and see for myself.

I know your not the sort to panic or that much is going to scare you but believe me fire is fuckin' frightening and wild fires even more so - so easy to get cut off from others. The heat, the smoke, the sheer force of a pine tree virtually exploding beside you... it is fucking scary.

[Yorick]

Currently sat on the ferry to Fuertaventura with the missus.
Only 30 mins then some of the best roads I've ever seen.

Pleasant 27c forecast for the day's riding

[Horse]

Just done my good deed for the day and, since it's Monday morning, possibly the week.

Have a skip out the front, which had an bicycle in it.

Knock at the door, "Is it ok if I have the bike?"

Filly said, yes, and thank you for asking - but it doesn't have a saddle.

She described him as being a bit twitchy, he said he was on the way to the pharmacy, would collect it on the way back.

By then, I'd found a spare seat in the shed and put that on, pumped up the tyres and oiled the chain.

He was very happy

[Horse]

There were two bikes, the other was taken. A neighbour put a kids bike on - that went too.

[slowsider]

I'm in Dublin nursing a headache from the Guinness, it's almost as bad as Newcastle Brown Ale for a next day headache.
I normally try to be healthy and a week of fried breakfasts and evenings on the Guinness is playing havoc

You could have brought a bit of sunshine with you, its pissing down in the midlands.

[Yorick]

Currently sat on the ferry to Fuertaventura with the missus.
Only 30 mins then some of the best roads I've ever seen.

Pleasant 27c forecast for the day's riding

Relatively cheap day. 75% discount on ferry prices. Only a tank of fuel so far.

But dropped my phone 10 mins ago, getting on to board this ferry.

Smashed screen

[Pirahna]

It's getting dark, wifey is watching love Island I'm sitting in the garden with a glass of wine, poking sticks into the chiminea and watching bats fly around.

[Taipan]

Currently sat on the ferry to Fuertaventura with the missus.
Only 30 mins then some of the best roads I've ever seen.

Pleasant 27c forecast for the day's riding

Relatively cheap day. 75% discount on ferry prices. Only a tank of fuel so far.

But dropped my phone 10 mins ago, getting on to board this ferry.

Smashed screen

Time for an iPhone 12 max pro

[Yorick]

Currently sat on the ferry to Fuertaventura with the missus.
Only 30 mins then some of the best roads I've ever seen.

Pleasant 27c forecast for the day's riding

Relatively cheap day. 75% discount on ferry prices. Only a tank of fuel so far.

But dropped my phone 10 mins ago, getting on to board this ferry.

Smashed screen

Time for an iPhone 12 max pro

That brings out the Yorkshire war cry.

Hooooow much ?

[Yambo]

We still have fires on the hill to the south not threatening to Turunç but there's a small community beyond the hill called Amos which will be threatened.





One of the forestry fire fighting helicopters




As I've said, Turunç has been lucky and although there's some big burns in the hills above the village it's not as bad as the other side of the hill to Içmeler. Wheelnut knows Içmeler well and may well have seen this before and after clip (facebook, sorry) but some of you might be interested.

[Horse]

Hells teeth, that was close! Glad you're ok.

[Yambo]

It's quiet; the sun is not a weird colour; there is no wind. Only small wisps of smoke are visible where fire raged last night and ground crews are damping down where they can.

The fire travelled down the back of the hill to the south and the fire fighters were unable to stop it getting to the top houses in Amos. This photo was taken last night by a Turkish person. Amos is behind the burning hill, the next bay round the coast.



People there had already been evacuated, including the professor I mentioned a few days ago (his wife had died). He came round to our bay in his boat and I saw him this morning. I don't know if his house was hit but he looked desperately sad and lonely. He is also ill and I suspect not too long for this world.

The crews worked all night and by sunrise this morning the fire threatening Amos was under control but the fires this side of the hill were still going strong. People in it's path had also been evacuated, a couple joining us on the beach. At 6:25 the first helicopter arrived and started dumping on this fire and a second arrived a bit later. Then a chinook arrived with a bit bigger bucket on a longer strop. The effort was successful it seems and the flames reduced. A few hours later and it all seemed to be under control.

I lied. As I was typing a helicopter has returned to do a bit of damping down - there are no big hot spots. The sound of the aircraft is comforting at the moment but I think it will be different in the future as it'll mean there are probably more fires around.

It's not all over yet, the fat lady's not even on the stage. The weather is still very hot, everywhere is still very dry but of course, there's less stuff around to burn. I think we can start to relax when the fire and forestry crews from other parts of Turkey leave us. Right now though, the peace is wonderful. We've been very lucky in this village. Geography, wind and sheer hard, brutal work has prevented fire getting into the village. Others have not been so lucky. There are still big fires near Milas and Köceğiz. Hisaronu was hit very hard and still has fires burning. The locals have plans for the future, new equipment, PPE, training in case this becomes an annual event and we can't rely on the government for help.

I think Recep's flying visit to Marmaris, his entourage blocking roads and his handing out tea will spectacularly backfire on him. I hope so.

I noticed earlier that there's no ash floating in the pool. I'm off now to replace it.

*Edit - photo added.

[Noggin]

That is both a stunning and yet devastating photo

Glad you are still ok. Hope the professor is being looked after and has a home to go back to soon x

[Taipan]

Greece and Italy also have bad fires now!

[Yorick]

Thankfully fires is one thing we don't need to worry about here.

Even houses don't burn down.
I've only ever seen a fire engine once and that was in a parade to applaud the nurses and doctors.

[wheelnut]

Thankfully fires is one thing we don't need to worry about here.

Even houses don't burn down.
I've only ever seen a fire engine once and that was in a parade to applaud the nurses and doctors.

It's difficult to burn volcanic ash.