Sunday, June 27, 2010

Fighting fires

I realize that I've probably posted about the fires in Congo at least once per year. But, i guess its always kind of exciting when they happen and i end up taking a bunch of pictures. This year one of the fires came uncomfortably close, so tchimpounga sent a crew to nip it in the bud.

Didier looks into the distance as the fire first makes its way across the fields and toward our house:

Through my zoom its not as timid as it seems on the horizon:

Fortunately we did have one truck with a hose which did most of the work. Nonetheless, watering cans and shovels were integral to the effort.

The 'firemen' pose for a photo after things are under control:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What was the cause of this fire?

Evan MacLean said...

humans. the fields are burned every year for a number of reasons. some places its slash and burn. others its just to make the land traversable (the grasses grow to be very high). other times the fires are set directionally to scare animals out of one area into a hunting trap in another. The problem is that starting the fires is easier than stopping them so they can show up on your doorstep despite being started miles away. So, for this fire in particular...no idea!