Tuesday 21 April 2009

Hills on fire

No, not some weird english expression but literally meant! We were driving back from Inverness last night and I commented on the vivid sunset. I believe I said "It looks just like the hills are on fire". A few minutes later and we realised that this was because they actually were on fire - the entire skyline was glowing orange. My consternation was slightly increased on realising that our house was somewhere in that orange bit.
Thankfully the fire had stopped at the hill just in front of our house but I couldn't sleep until I was sure it wasn't going to get any closer (husband typically fell fast asleep). And doubly thankfully the houses here are so sparsely scattered that the fire brigade managed to protect the few houses in the fire's path.
It's very odd to see a black hill out of my kitchen window this morning. I'm intrigued to know how it started, after all the Highlands are not exactly Australia...

4 comments:

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

Something similar happened to us on our way home from school (over the hills near Knockhill) just before Easter - flames right up to the edge of the road, it was surreal. At the time I'd thought the farmer was clearing his fields, but after reading this post perhaps it wasn't as controlled as that. Yikes. Maybe it's aliens.

I'm really glad you're okay and that they managed to control the fire before it got as far as any of the houses.

Jackie Ashenden said...

Argh! Lorraine, that sounds quite scary. Arson perhaps? Considering you guys are only just coming out of winter, it's hardly going to be a stray spark.

Joanne Coles said...

Gosh, how on earth did that start?! Glad you are ok and the fire missed your house. V. scary.

Lorraine said...

Thanks guys, it was a bit scary but also (worries about livestock aside) pretty awesome to watch - must have been at least a mile wide.
The local consensus is that it started off as someone clearing some land and got out of control - it almost consumed the auction mart and power lines as well as narrowly missing a few houses.
We have some house rubbish to burn but I'm refusing to allow the husband to have a bonfire!!!