Continued

The fire (see yesterday) burned all night, an eerie red glow on the horizon. This morning we had a 9 am appointment at the bank, as the money had landed in our bank account overnight. The road between Fabrezan and Ribaute was still closed, so we went the back way across the vineyards. When we got to Fabrezan, it was jammed with fire engines, but we managed to squeeze through. Further on, the gendarmes were stopping cars at the roundabout where the autoroute access is (the autoroute was closed) and asking every driver where they were going. We gave the right answer and were let through.

We spent a while with a helpful lady at the bank shuffling money around, and then went on to the market. It was surprisingly busy given that many people would have been unable to get there -- there were long queues at every stall, and despite only buying a few things it took us nearly an hour. 

On the way back, we knew that the right answer was not Fabrezan, so we said Fontcouverte instead. The gendarme turned out not to be local, so we had to tell her where it was, whereupon she waved us through. We duly did our detour, then did a little tour of the back roads of Fabrezan to avoid going through the jammed centre, and again took the vineyard track route home.. 

One way and another, it was nearly lunchtime when we got back. There we learned from a neighbour that Vaugelas, the wine domain at the bottom of the falaise bleue, was burning. This startled us, so we walked to a suitable vantage point, where half a dozen people were already watching. Jeannot had brought his folding chair and made himself comfortable to watch the show.

Actually the domaine itself, surrounded by vines, was not on fire, but the flames were racing through the dense pine forest at the top of the cliff. A full complement of Canadairs was already at work, along with a couple of helicopters. Luckily it wasn't as windy as yesterday. When I went out later in the afternoon to check, there was a pall of hazy smoke, but nothing was actually burning, and only the helicopters were on site. This evening the wind has turned and is blowing the smoke towards us, so the air is quite dense, a veil of smoke hiding the damage from us.

Closer to the coast, it's still burning -- 16,000 hectares now destroyed, the biggest forest fire in France since records began in 1973. The prime minister and interior minister have duly shown up, and our village hall is now housing 70 firefighters. There are now nearly 2,000 firefighters from all over France here -- many other villages are providing shelter for them, and for people who have been evacuated and can't go home -- some of them because their houses have burned down. Let's hope the fire is under control by tomorrow morning. I can still hear the circling helicopters at nearly 9 pm.

There's a small Flickr album of photos I took yesterday and today.