Another large fire in Águas da Prata - Sep 2008

On Sept 12, 2008, at 3:pm we saw smoke over the mountain. A large fire was well underway when we saw it. The fire is on top of the mountain on or near our friend's farm.

Here is what we saw from our house.





The fire is about 1 to 2 km away.





It grew in intensity for three hours.










We thought it was under control or even extinguished by 6:00 p.m. But we were wrong. After dark we could see the fire was spreading rapidly. In this pic you can see another small fire to the south of the main fire. The fire had now come over the mountain and was burning furiously down towards the houses.





Here you can see the undergrowth burning under the tall trees. The next two pics were taken using a telephoto lens. The fire is about 1.5 km from our house.















The speed with which this fire is moving is scary.



Photos by Urso Branco