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Monchique Fire Aftermath at Talurdo (Video)

UPDATE: My entire video shoot titled “Consequência – Depois dos Incêndios” is now available to view HERE

A small area near to São Marcos da Serra, Talurdo saw the closest fire to our location. I documented this on the 8th August. Yesterday (10th August) I returned to the scene to capture some Drone footage. I didn’t get as much as I intended as there was a large presence of Army and Bombeiros on standby and I didn’t want to annoy anyone. You can also notice in the distance a fire-fighting plane on one of the clips. A hotspot had ignited and they called in air-support. Once I saw planes in the vicinity, I grounded the Drone.

The area here used to be Cork Oak and , I believe, Medronho Trees. Some of the Cork Oaks maybe lucky, but many are lost and irreplaceable in our lifetime.

If I’m completely honest, I had at least one tear in my eye editing this clip. Please feel free to share this blog and/or the YouTube but if you intend to use in the media, please contact me first.

{Remember to watch in HD or 4K if possible}


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The Devastation at Talurdo

The greatest news possible today, the fires are now classed as “Em Resoluçao”, which means “In Resolution”. They have finally conquered this monster. Bright blue skies have returned to the Algarve and the sound of helicopters and planes have disappeared, all with the exception of a few small flare-ups to contend with.

I took a trip up to Talurdo which is where I was photographing on Wednesday to see the devastation left behind. There is a small farm in Talurdo and it is very near to where the fires passed through, they were lucky, the fire chose a different path and missed them completely. There are a lot of Bombeiros and Army stationed at Talurdo (and all over the fire area) until they can finally say “Em Conclusão”, so I didn’t want to annoy anyone. I did send the drone up, but the return of the planes for a distant small fire meant I stopped, I will share this footage soon. Once everything dies down, I will send it up again to bring you some views of the devastation.

For now, here are some photos I took. It was amazing to hear Beetles and Crickets amongst the ash, Swallows, Swifts and Martins flying around and also a lot of Butterflies, isn’t amazing how nature deals with this. As you can see, this area has no Eucalyptus, there are a lot of Cork Oak Trees that have been destroyed. I noticed many trees that had their cork harvested this year, these trees had no defence.

In case you are wondering which area this is, I have created a Custom Google Map which shows you. This is just a tiny portion of the whole fire area.


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Just When We Thought The Local Fires Had Gone!

Day 6 of the terrible fires which started in the Serra do Monchique last Friday and we thought all the action had headed south towards Silves. However, I looked out of the window to a huge plume of smoke which looked very close. A few locals also messaged me to ask if I knew anything about it. This being after I have spent the last few days chasing the fires to provide live footage via our village Facebook page to update the locals and others with an interest in São Marcos da Serra. So I jumped on the Quad bike and went off in search of the fire. It took a while to get to a vantage point as I didn’t want to be down wind of the fire for obvious reasons.

The wind was very strong which was really fanning the flames but as with previous days it was pushing the fire away from the village. Unfortunatly it was pushing it south towards the towns (and area between) Silves and Messines. Tonight, this fire is now causing a huge problem for the residents in its path and hope it can be yet again tamed before causing any serious damage.

Here are a few pictures I took from my vantage point. Watching the planes, especially the Canadair CL-415 swooping down was a fantastic sight, just a shame its in these horrible circumstances.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Day 6: Going strong

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A Crazy Day Of Watching Fires, Followed By Another “Tree of Life”

Today has been a crazy day, after staying awake a lot of the night watching the events unfold around Monchique I woke to the reports that the fire was “heading towards São Marcos da Serra”. It seems as though the media mis-interpreted the authorities and over-exaggerated the situation. I headed to a nearby ridge to see for myself and indeed the fire was nowhere to be seen, just distance plumes of smoke. Later in the afternoon, I ventured further afield to locate the fires. It was a long way from the village which at one point did flare up quite large, however, after what seemed like it was left to burn most of the day, a few airplanes later and the smoke seemed to disappear to almost nothing.

There are still fires burning, however, the local village (and our Quinta) seem to be well out of reach currently. For the last few nights I have posted bright red glowing sky photos, but tonight, the skies are much much darker with just a faint red glow which I assume is from the fires re-establishing in the Monchique area.

You may remember a photograph I posted back in January where I used a Cork Oak as a silhouette against the setting sun.

Tonight, this same tree was backlit by the red skies of the fires. It may seem a bit dramatic, however after the last couple of nights, this is now very tame compared to what we have seen. Hopefully, the horrible events of the last few days are coming to an end.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Tree of Life
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The Monchique Fire Is Now A Very Serious Problem

As you may know, the fires burning in the Serra de Monchique has turned a very dark corner and is now approaching the main town of Monchique with evacuations of small areas on the outskirts of the town taking place. I know a few of you that attend my walks live in the area and my thoughts are with you and hope you come away without any major issues.

I took a quick trip up Eagle Ridge which normally has some amazing views over Serra de Monchique and the highest peak of Foia, however, as you can see it really shows just how terrible this situation is. If I’m honest, sitting up there and seeing this view almost brought a tear to my eye. If I was to guess, the ridgeline in the photo has a width of about 20kms. We can only hope the brave men and women on the front-line (and behind the scenes) can bring this monster under control before a major disaster. The lights in the foreground is my local village of São Marcos da Serra, this village is a long way from the fires and under no threat.

Forest Fires in the Serra de Monchique, Algarve
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The Fire In Monchique Still Burns

Last night I posted a photo of the Fire in Monchique and although the latest update is that one of the 2 fronts is now under control, it still burns.

Last night, we could only see a small glow over the ridge, tonight it is a very different story. The photo looks like the fire is close, however, its not, it just because there are many mountain ridges hidden in the darkness. This line of red glow covers many kilometers of hillside.

Murphy’s Law came into play today, we had multiple Thunderstorms come through the Algarve, some with torrential rain, it seems all of them missed the area on fire!

Mountains on Fire!
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