Portugal's Deadly Summer. The Pedrogão Grande Fire Storm (2017)
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Forest fires are a common occurrence during the summer months in Portugal, but the fatalities from this fire were going to be unlike any other seen in recent years.... The Pedrogão Grande fire was of such speed and intensity, that it has been described as an "unprecedented" phenomenon...
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Photo Credits: Paulo Duarte (AP), Armando Franca (AP), BBC News, Portugal News, Getty Images, Miguel Riopa, Adelino Meirles, Patricia Moreira, Rui Oliveira, Global Imagens, TSF, Andar da Mota, Reuters, Renasença, Nuno Ferreira, Presedencia da Republica
I'm only halfway through this video and I'm speechless. The fact that you lived through this is mind boggling! The loss of life is tragic. 😢 Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for watching (and commenting)
Truly amazing. Can you imagine the amount of fear and thoughts of impending doom that he did not share with us.
Fire on those levels that close roar also!
Scary 😮
@@theravenseye9443
Your intro music/ sound is excellent, ominous, foreboding.
My Mum lives in Graca, lost a few friends ❤❤
@@thomasdonald3291 😞
i was not expecting a disaster story from You with first hand perspective! i know from my own experience that losing your home to a fire is like a death. Grief, is grief, is grief. i was blessed to have not lost any people in the fire. i can not imagine what that poor man who lost his whole family must have gone through! i'm glad that Your family and friends all made it through safely! Thank You for a fascinating story !:-) 🙏💜
We lost our house at Xmas one year. We salvaged bits, but lost one of our kitties.
Your experience with the wildfire is terrifying, glad you guys made it out unscathed
The fact that you actually lived through this one gives this particular disaster an extra dimension of surrealism in a "How did this even happen???" type of way.
As a California native i completely understand how shockingly destructive wildfires are. My heart goes out to all of those that lost loved ones, homes, and everything they owned. I'm so sorry for Portugal's loss. Thank you for telling your story, for telling your neighbors stories, and bringing this tragedy to your viewers.
As a Californian, I second this. The images of burned out car's tires melted to the asphalt remind me of the Paradise/Camp wildfire of 2018, as well as the San Bruno pipeline explosion of 2012, and even images I saw of the Big Basin lightning complex fires in 2020. Trauma that our entire state has still not recovered from. While driving through the Clearlake area to go camping the year after Paradise, we drove through a portion of road that looked like the point where the flames had crossed the highway dividing the burn areas, and the huge redwood and pine trees that were completely blackened except for one sprig of green at the very tippy tops where the fire had obviously burned so hot and so high, that I could easily picture the GIANT wall of flames that must have been that exact spot the year prior. Crazy stuff.
It must feel even worse when you learn that it was started by a gender reveal party.
Thanks for giving these usually overseen villagers a voice.
I'm a deputy chief of a firebrigade in a small German municipality, that currently deals with a bunch of forest fires most likely started by a fairly active arsonist. After a period of 3 Months without rain, we had luck in several cases that fires has been noticed at an early stage, so that it had been easy to contain and extinguish the fires.
I hope that my team will continue to be successful in protecting people, homes and the environment.
Thank you for what your profession does, the world-over.
Can I ask? - Do you use those Mercedes-Benz Unimogs? I saw a fascinating video about the fire suppression systems on those whereby if the vehicle is trapped in a burnover or suchlike, it can re-direct its own water supply and cover the vehicle in water to save the lives of the occupants. Amazing vehicles for firefighters - who are amazing people.
@@XXSkunkWorksXX A series of UNIMOGs had been procured in the early 80ies (TLF8W). Some of them are still in service.
But currently, in several regions way cooler stuff is being bought:
ruclips.net/video/OiXwtc8p2QY/видео.html
These maximum rugged & off-road capable Tatra trucks carry 4000-5000l water and have 397hp for less than 16 tons.
Even the German army bought 76 of tbem.
Versions with more axles and a capacity of 9000l are avaable as well.
In other German regions, like lower Saxony, they adopted the French CCFM3000 standard - mainly resulting in off-road capable trucks trucks from Renault or IVECO.
All of the tucks mentioned have some self protection system. The trucks for Bundeswehr for example have a separate 300l water tank therefore.
Since I'm deputy chief of a volunteer fire department in an area that is less prone to large wildfires, we don't have a specialised vehicle therefore. Located in Hessen, we have a 4x4 LF10 KatS carrying 1000l of water together with all the other stuff.
@@peterm.2385 Thank you so much for your reply, Peter! I shall be checking the link. To quote _Hill Street Blues_ 'Be careful out there' and take care :)
I knew you lived in Portugal but had no idea you were so close to my hometown - not Pedrógão Grande, but pretty close.
I wasn't there on this day, I was some 50-60km away in Castelo Branco, working a temp job at a shopping mall. I had struggled with intense fear, anxiety and depression for years and was starting to recover, so my parents were reluctant to tell me about it. Still, I found out anyway on the news the next day, and from friends (irl and online) checking in to see if I was okay, since they knew I lived in the area. It was kind of surreal. When I got back, even though, again, I don't live in Pedrógão, you could feel the confusion and sadness in the air. Most people knew at least one person, or knew someone who knew someone who died.
You did a wonderful job of conveying the general feel of how fires are perceived by us central Portuguese. An unfortunate, and annoying, part of everyday summer life. Watching the green that makes our home so beautiful and so lovely to live in turn evermore into brown and black is... disheartening, to say the least. But it's also a reality that we have to learn to live with.
As a fellow denizen of central Portugal, thank you so much for this video, Raven's Eye. I imagine it can't have been easy for you. Thank you for not letting this story be forgotten.
Thank you for sharing your firsthand perspective, it renders the story vivid and emotional. I'm glad you and yours are safe.
I was a wild land firefighter. Those tornads happen due to the superheated air rising from the fire, blown by the wind, creating a "firewhirl". They're extremely dangerous and travel faster than the flames around them so there's no chance to outrun them.
Another factor is the stability of the atmosphere. Chances are, it was already an unstable day that allowed the hot column of smoke to rise and drift. The air current then carries it for a few miles until it hits a lower pressure and collapses to the ground. If it's big and dense enough, that blanket of smoke can ignite fires in areas for miles around the initial blaze.
The last factor is the amount of ladder fuel available in those pictures you showed. I'm guessing Portugal has a " see it and fight it" policy, so that fires don't get a chance to spread. It sounds good on oaper, but it took the US 80 years to learn the hard lesson of how bad it is. Fires would normally travel fast through grass and underbrush and burn themselves out before torching the treetops under natural circumstances. When countries start fighting the natural fires caused by lightning though, those small, fast fires don't get to do anything and the underbrush gets extremely dense. The underbrush accumulats to form fuel for future fires, which use that to literally climb the tree trunks and start torching the crowns.
The US has implemented a series of control burns to remedy this problem in some parts, though all it takes is one portion of forest to be too overgrown to create a firestorm down wind.
The Kings Cross fire also demonstrates the same danger present in forest fires. Super heated air dries out and heats up the wood upwind. Once it hits its flashpoint, the entire area heated up explodes into flames. It sounds like this was the case here.
The best you can do is sit in a valley and find clear land. I'd also suggest you invest in a fire shelter - a small personal fireproof tent you wrap around yourself. If you find yourself in a fire, move downhill, find cover, stay out of the immediate downwind area, look for clearing with no overhang, keep space about 2 to 3 times the height of the trees between you and the fire, then jump in that shelter until the fire passes.
All great advice. Despite a horrific wildfire season in Canada here, I am so grateful we don’t have eucalyptus. I was shocked last year when I visited BC as it was *hot* (we get hot in Toronto but I’d thought BC was more moderate) & the grass was yellow, with lots of very tall trees and overgrowth from their milder winters. I had to think….just one wrong campfire not put all the way out.
It’s weird, too, how control burns and forest management have just fallen off. I know my government has cut the funding back…even though it’s vital.
Be careful folks. You’re telling way too much truth here that runs contrary to the manmadeglobalwarmingglobalcoolingclimatechangeiceagecarbontaxalgorejohnkerrygretaturdburg narrative.
Be careful that the men in dark suits and sunglasses don’t knock on your door.
Thank you for speaking the truth as to the cause of “bigger more cataclysmic zombie apocalypse inducing” wildfires.
When I was younger I watched a documentary on this disaster. It was frankly a scaring experience and a contributing factor to my overwhelming fear of fires. I've been searching for the specific fire featured in that documentary on and off and when I started watching this video I instantly knew it was the same one. I'm glad to have finally found it but hearing what actually transpired for a second time was frankly bone chilling. I wouldn't wish such a thing on my worst enemy.
Bear up pal. Imagination is always worse than experience. Really. Honest.
This has to be the most difficult video on your channel. What made this video different to all the rest is that forest fires are part of life there. And I'm glad you are ok after the 2017 fire
Cheers mate!
@@theravenseye9443 you're welcome. Keep up the great work on your channel. I love it 😉
Some of those photos remind me of the Black Saturday bushfires in Australia. A disaster that took place in 2009.
or the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alberta 🇨🇦 foerest fire, here in my area....
What about the 2019 ones?
@@talpark8796the footage of people driving out was terrifying to watch. I still can’t believe no one died in that evacuation (I think 1 girl-maybe a firefighter’s daughter-passed away in a car accident during that).
That was similar-super hot weather, strong wind, and families that got separated trying to escape. Just awful. Here in Canada it’s been a rough wildfire season. The smoke…it came right into Toronto even though they weren’t close and I can only remember that once in my life prior to this year and not nearly as bad. It smelled just acrid and felt like the smoke was right in your eyes from a campfire. One child died from his asthma during the smoke recently…played outside for a bit and had an attack.
I mean the good news here is that we don’t have trees like the eucalyptus which is notorious for catching from its oil. Still, it’s been sad to see so much more of this happening this year, given the past events such as Black Saturday.
My thought exactly. 120 lost here that day.
I've seen videos from inside a firetruck of a flash over during an Aussie bushfire. Horrifically terrifying and i was just watching the footage. I don't want to imagine what it would be like in a car. I hurt for the people left behind and hope they were able to find a way to deal with their losses and overcome the grief of these life changing circumstances.
Why is a big fire deadly! HMM i cant wait to find out why!
noteably, those australian fire trucks have sprinkler systems to douse the outside of the truck to use evaporative cooling to keep the truck from being cooked in a burnover. and of course firefighters have pressurised air gear. in a regular car, I reckon first the tires would burst, and then the windows.
@@Ass_of_Amalek these are newly installed in 2019, they also have heat reflector pads to hold against the window and they don't tend to stop. That hasn't stopped deaths from the volunteer bush firies. It's certainly better than being in a car. Either are terrifying.
@@Ass_of_Amalek You get caught in fire the sprinklers wont save you! The heat will cook you very quickly!
@@Ass_of_Amalek, I was i those fires and I know the people who recorded the footage (from trucks not equipped with the protections you are referring to). Even so, a water sprinkler and a sheet of insulation will do nothing against temperatures in the thousands of degrees.
These extreme fire events will continue to increase in intensity and frequency and occur in locations where climates were previously too cool/ wet. With climate change now an irreversible reality, it's important that people learn to live with these new dangers.
just seeing the picture in the thumbnail was enough to scare me. my heart aches for the 66 lives lost, and the hundreds injured. I am so happy you survived to tell us your story
This one hit me hard. Ever since moving to Australia I've become sensitive to even the smell of smoke in the summer. A few weeks of hot, dry weather is all it takes with forests of eucalyptus and pine. The Marysville fire of 2009 in Victoria claimed over 170 lives. Those who survived either had water tanks on their property or were close to a river.
If I were you I'd clear all the trees around your home to act as a fire break and install a swimming pool that way you'll have peace of mind that you have a chance should a fire hit.
@@chatteyj Got the trees, but also have the pool. Great idea, though. Neighbours also have a pool, so their two children would also have refuge should the worst happen. Thanks.
That poor guy. I really hope he's found some kind of peace
I so appreciate that this video was not only from your personal perspective (OMG what a terror to live through!!!), but also a bit less scripted and more casual than usual. Thank you for being real with us! (PS I had a lot of subscription updates today but yours was the one I was most excited to watch. Of all the "dark/tragic history" YT channels I follow, you're by far the best!)
The loss of life and phenomenal speed of the fire is so difficult to comprehend. It’s clear from the emotion in your voice how much this affected you and your community still to this day. Glad to hear you and your family made were safe.
Excellent if not heartbreaking video as always
A quarter of all forests in Portugal are now eucalyptus, and eucalyptus need fire to seed drop, they are made to burn, it is why our fires in Australia often tend to be so out of control. The very air itself catches fire with the eucalyptus oil vapourising in the heat, you can't outrun it and it is so unpredictable. If they keep the eucalyptus in the forests the fires will get worse and eventually such a tragedy will occur again. My thoughts are with all those who were affected by this fire.
Where I lived in California there were groves and groves of eucalyptus. On really hot days you could taste the terpenes when you breathed All those oils are extremely flammable. I always wondered how bad it would be if we had a bad fire like they had further north. Then I saw footage of Black Friday and knew. Terrifying.
Thank you for telling us about your experience in this event. It’s a first and much appreciated perspective on the communities affected.
I have been in a hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, blizzard, and a wildfire. All of them have been unbelievable experiences that have been etched into my memory. It is one thing to watch them via a medium like RUclips but to have been there in person is something you just can not really convey to someone else!
Wow, Raven, that was intense! RIP to all those folks. We got scant coverage here in the US. Just the usual web stuff nothing that inferred this scale and loss. Man, I'm SO glad you're ok!
I’m so glad you were safe. Research the Peshtigo fire- it happened the same day as the great Chicago fire, Oct 8,1871 but in the Green Bay Wisconsin area. Your description & the Judges remarks you quoted remind me of the behavior of the Peshtigo fire, a fire which killed 1,500-2000 people.
I have been reading about the Peshtigo fire. Definitely one for a future video.
Yep, I keep telling people about this, as it seems to be an almost forgotten tragedy (unlike the Chicago one).
There are similar Fire Storms like this in Australia. The common denominator is Eucalyptus. There are oils stored within these plants that help them survive. Once they catch fire, it is like fighting a gasoline fueled blaze. It spreads so fast that little can be done to put the fires out once they start. Hard to imagine anything as scary as having to jump into a water tank to survive. As you stated, it is hard to even tell there was a fire at all. Eucalyptus grows back rapidly. There has always been times of fire even before humans settled the lands.
Boom. Excellent Truth Bomb.
There are those who would blame it on man controlling the planet (which he doesn’t).
Thanks for comment. @@richardcranium3579
I know someone who survived the Paradise, California fire that went a lot like this one. She lost her home, but thankfully she and her pets made it out in time. I know the event traumatized her a lot though. She knew some of the victims who had been neighbors. Its so disturbing this is happening all over the world now and getting worse due to climate change. I'm so glad you and your wife were okay and survived this.
that's what I had thought, that it reminded me of the Paradise Fire
No it’s getting worse as governments don’t do their Job (taking care to use controlled burns to keep the fuel load from building up to ridiculous amounts.
Summers are Always hot and do have dry spells…since the beginning of time.
Don’t believe the governments narrative. It’s a nice way for them to shift Responsibility and extort more tax money from the citizens.
Don’t give them the easy way out.
Crazy and terrifying. This is very reminiscent of the Oakland Firestorm of 1991. Also took place in a largely forested, hilly area with difficult roads, and most of the casualties happened on one stretch of roadway. If not for several police officers staying in harm’s way to direct traffic, at least one of which died, the death toll may have been comparable to this fire instead of a “mere” 25. Especially since it was in a more densely inhabited area.
Had a special guest on my fire tracking stream last night. Funny - we spoke of this very thing. John Bruno, ret. fire chief of Shasta County - saw the Oakland Firestorm. A new building was on fire every 38 seconds. Told me something I didn't know - eucalyptus. Everywhere in that neighborhood. California imported huge amounts of it from (actual, individual) Aussie scam artists in the 1800s. We're paying for this ecological mistake to this day. Looks like Portugal, not just California, has Aussie-style bushfires too.
@@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking Eucalyptus is very susceptible to these fires. They grow fast, and then dry out in droughts, making them great field for wildfires. A friend of mine in the hills outside Los Angeles told me the really wet winter in California made brush and eucalyptus trees grow like crazy. Now they are drying out.
@@glennzanotti3346which is an absolute natural process controlled by nature.
I still don't know who came up with the brilliant idea of planting Eucalyptus trees in Portugal. I mean those trees are so flammable it is ridiculous
Yes, they can literally explode at the top circle of foliage
They produce huge amounts of paper there and it is very profitable.
maybe the 'green' expat Aussie contingent? 😉
@@talpark8796 it has a lot to do with drought resistance and amount of water needed to grow them, it's the same reason you find populations of eucalyptus trees in California
@@rosekay5031 yes, but so are many other trees and foliage. The paper-pulp explanation is intriguing though. I'll check that out for comparisons.
Living through a disaster changes the way you see life, even if it's only a disaster on a personal level. To go through something so big where so many people were lost... I have no words that can possibly convey the sympathy for those who survived and lost everything. Thank you so much for telling your story and letting the world know about a disaster that the rest of the world has forgotten. I am glad you and yours are safe, I hope you continue to remain safe in the future.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Living in California I can sympathize with the fire season. We also have firenados. The town of Paradise was also surrounded by fire and completely destroyed. I believe it was the same year.
Was that the one with the electrical company not maintaining its overhead wires as the lead cause of that fire starting?
@@pinlight97started it but if the government was doing their job to reduce fuel load the ignition point wouldn’t be an issue.
Rather rare to see a video about something that the video maker actually experienced first-hand. Especially in this community. The tone is a lot different than when reading a script written for an audience and the story is infinitely more valuable.
That same summer, near Athens, Greece (Mati), a wild fire resulted in 108 fatalities.
And California burning down. Santa Rosa, Bangor, Loma Rica. From PG&E's neglected line maintenance. And their "let them fail instead of repair" policy. They'd kill 85+ people the next year in Paradise. My brother was lucky to make it out alive. I highly suspect the power company. "Lightning out of the clear, blue sky." Riiiiight. Reminds me of the corrupt politicians in the state, eager to blame C02, and a failure to tax cow farts - as they take money from the company as "donations." The smell of corruption - smells like dead people.
That one was in 2018 the one in this video was in 2017
@@tastyjones5370 Correct. I should have been clear Santa Rosa, Bangor + Loma Rica, were 2017 fires. 2018 was one year later, in Paradise, as I said. Friend lost was specifically in the 2017 Cascade fire. Not too far south from Paradise, but, slightly lower elevation. I used to live near there. Could have been me. I used to take horse riding lessons at Paradise...my uncle, had an appointment for eye surgery that day. Forgot crucial insurance card. Going back for it, saved him from being in it.
There's one thing you should remember about fire propagation. Eucalyptus promotes the probability and intensity of forest fires with its highly flammable oils. Some of the eucalyptus species used in Mediterranean forestry also release oily substances into the soil, further increasing the risk of forest fires. So if it's warm and rainy for days, these oils concentrate. This would also explain the statement that some trees were ignited by the rapid heat wave ahead.
Glad to hear you were able to escape. Been in too many forest fires (US southwest) thankfully none that got that close but have been able to clock the fires racing down mountainsides going from a crawl to a speed you know would have fire crews digging survival pits and using emergency blankets to escape the flares rushing them.
Winding roads, tall old trees devastated by drought and beetles, make for acres and acres of matchsticks.
Man your story sounds like my story of the Oakland Hills Firrestorm of 1991. A Small fire broke out and the firefighters extinguished it. At least they thought. It survived and turned into a Firestorm to the point 2 firefighters were trying to get a lady away from her house she wanted to get her cat so she put her dog into the car the guys showed up and she had to go by time they realized the fire was around them she had a pool in the backyard and all 3 jumped just as her house exploded like it was a gas leaked. That fire was scary at that time I was only 4 Years Old. Still remember it like it was yesterday I’m 36 now. Don’t ever want to experience anything like that again. 25 people died in ours. Weird hearing a story of your own too. Glad you and your Wife were ok!
As a portuguese, this was shocking. Like you said, forest fires here are normal in the summer, but there are rarely major casualties. Pedrógão opened the eyes to the lack of safety regulation and measures in countryside Portugal and how not to react to a disaster. Not being from the mainland, but having close people that live around the pinhal de Leiria always makes me keep my eyes open for the summer fires. Never thought you were living here as well. Hope you like the country.
I am glad your friend's family managed to get somewhere safe.
I grew up in Southern California so I can agree: burning eucalyptus is horrible. I couldn’t imagine the horror of the wildfires in Australia a few years back. Glad you and yours survived this one, great video.
I live in, and grew up in California. The bad fires in southern California were primerily brush fires, and also pine forests in the mountains. Northern California wildfires are a mixed bag of dry grass, oaks, pine, and masses of brush.
You told this tragic story with personal pain and sensitivity. Good job.
I definitely feel for you and everyone over in Portugal. I live in Arizona here in the U.S. and my area has experienced some severe wildfires over the past several years. This includes the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013 where 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighter crew were killed. So we are on pins and needles during the summer months, wondering if some major wildfire will break out.
I lived through the Cedar and Witch Creek fires in California. This kind of wind driven monster of a fire brings back memories of listening for evacuation orders, and a sky that was an eerie mars red. Same crazy flammable eucalyptus trees as well. I still remember footage of a news reporter under the smoke plume pointing out what he thought was the moon. It was, in fact, the sun.
The death toll here reminds me of the Camp Fire, where towns with poor evacuation routes got very little or no warning.
When i got out to work the day after the fire. I was not aware of the reality of the situation. I remember that I've passed some one on my car and noticed that the lady was crying i didn't payed much attention, than i walked past a man and he saw his face and for my surprise he was also crying... I said that was really weird...
Went to take my breakfast to a local bakery and when i got in there was silence everyone had his eyes glued to the tv and some of them were also crying...
And then it hit me . Boy I've never seen this country so sad . It was terrible.
But then again we really don't learn from our mistakes.
Thanks for doing this maybe it will shed some sense into our dogmatic mind.
What a horrific experience! I have college friends who survived the Santa Rosa (California) fire in October of that same year. It swept up towards their house late at night and they only escaped by jumping into the pool. They don’t have children, so their cats were their furry family. I think they only managed to save one of the three. They lost literally everything.
Awful 😢
I remember this on the news. 6 years have flown by but for those effected I'm sure the memories are still fresh. Nature can be terrifying & frightening in disasters like this.
Thanks for the video & your personal comments.
Dear TRE, Here in the Pacific North West of "The States" we know fires, I have even worked as a firefighter in my younger years in some very large ones, if you have ever seen a twelve story 100 year old Doug Fir "explode" you understand the shock and awe of what Mother Nature can do. But I have also lived in California around San Francisco, and over the years they had imported Eucalyptus trees from Australia, they grow fast, are tall and "stringy" dump tons of dead leaves and old branches and are full of "oil". A forest of them are basically standing wooden matches ready to go up very fast and very, very hot.
Wow this one’s actually a personal experience.
Its like what we have here in Australia. We had a really bad year in 2003 (Canberra), 2009 (Victoria) and 2019 (megafire in New South Wales). In 2009 we lost more then 200 people as the fire trapped people in their homes. One fire chief was fighting fire in town and lwft his wife and son to stay at home (he believed that the area was safe). Turns out the fire changed directions and trapped the man's wife and son, killing them both.
There was also an EF2 tornado spawned from the fire back in 2003 Canberra fire, is the first documented tornado filmed by a resident in the area
2008-2009 Black Saturday, Australia. Is another bad fire! Sad to see such devastation, bush fires are very dangerous.
Favorite channel hands down
Thanks!
Thank you for the video, this had to be one of the hardest ones for you to make
It's quite likely that that fire in Portugal in 2017 did indeed start from a lightning strike, it happens, and it can happen up to a week before the fire really takes a hold and is noticed by anyone. A small lightning storm hits a tree, it smoulders away quietly for several days until it the fire reaches a hot enough temperature to ignite the tree into flames, then it starts to spread, slowly at first, as it gradually gains fuel it gains more heat, this can take another day or two of burning to really get going, then the strong dry wind catches it and a few minutes later it's a raging inferno. Fires fed by drought, heat, and strong winds are fast, hot and deadly, we've seen too many just like it in Australia. Those poor souls stuck on that road never stood a chance. Sadly, fires like that are becoming more common and are occurring in places they've never been seen before. I hope Portugal learned from it and is more ready for the next time it happens, with better bushfire readiness and evacuation notices and plans in place, because it might not be any time soon and it might not be in exactly the same place, but unfortunately, chances are, it will happen again. What am I talking about, it is happening again, large areas of Greece have been incinerated, and now large areas of Portugal is on fire as I write this. I hope everyone that needs to gets out in time this time.
Why was it so deadly,well it was a firestorm which would include fire tornadoes. I remember reading about the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. It produced a fire tornado that killed nearly 40,000 people.
I'll have to look into that - that sounds insane.... but, yes, China has had some disasters with death tolls into the hundreds of thousands. Terrible.
I don't even live in a country with dangerous wildfires or other noteworthy natural disasters, but I still know that you need to either prepare to stay, or leave reasonably early. what you don't do is wait until you're about to be caught up in it, and then panic and try to outrun it with no headstart.
It’s fascinating to hear a discussion of a major disaster like this from somebody who was actually there and knows the area. It’s rare that someone who makes these types of videos also has first-hand experience. It adds a whole other dimension to these stories.
As for the behavior of the fire, it sounds like a firestorm. I’ve definitely heard stories of eucalyptus trees bursting into flame or exploding in fires before. It’s apparently because of all the eucalyptus oil in them. The speed might be partly because sometimes, in valleys or on slopes you can get the channel effect where the fire sucks the air from downslope into itself and that draft makes the heat and flame rise along the slope instead of vertically. That makes the fire move very quickly because the flames themselves are basically being blown straight into the unburned areas like a giant blowtorch.
If at all possible, I would like to see you cover the tornado outbreak in Minnesota, May 6, 1965. My dad was born during this outbreak, and It destroyed many towns in Minnesota, including my current town. It’s nothing on a national scale, but it was devastating nonetheless. There are many pictures in Mound, MN in various stores of the damage. Most of the town was obliterated.
Hello. I subscribe to your channel but somehow missed this one until today. Wow. Really felt for you and the people of Portugal. Such a sad and terrible event. I live in California and we have many bad fires too. They are always very scary.
I grew up in Los Angeles. We have fires every fall in California. It is very dangerous to live in mountain areas, especially when the Santa Anna winds blow.
Never change the intro. Also your videos are great keep up the good work.
That's horrifying. I live in a wildfire-prone area as well, in the western United States, and am used to summer and fall as a wildfire season. I would've had the same sort of reaction as so many people in this case -- I'd start getting ready to evacuate, but I wouldn't have panicked, and I never would expect a fire to move so quickly like that. It must have been a combination of so many factors that allowed it to spread and grow with such speed and intensity.
I am familiar with the forest fires on our continent and familiar with many fires in Australia (such as Black Saturday in 2009, and the Black Summer of 2019/2020) but I don't think I've often heard about the wildfires of Europe.
2017 was a horrific forest fire year for us here in the western United States as well. We had the 8th largest fire ever recorded that year for our state, as well as fires in Douglas-fir forests that normally are far less impacted by wildfire than our pine forests. Trails are still closed from those fires, since the steep mountainsides no longer have the stabilizing vegetation, which could take decades to grow back. Thick heavy smoke lasted in my area for nearly a month due to the fires being on steep, difficult to control areas, so that we couldn't even go outside. It's expected to become a pattern, with climate change pushing extremes (wetter winters, drier, much hotter summers) and storms, leading to longer fire seasons, more fires, and more intense fires. I expect, unfortunately, that this is true across much of the world. And right now, fires in Canada burn an area larger than many European countries.
This new normal is so hellish.
Don’t believe the government narrative …hotter? Nope. Drier? Nope . Wetter? Nope
Natural process not caused by man? Yes.
The government abdicated its responsibility to help maintain a low fuel load so fire don’t get so big. They conveniently blame it on citizens controlling the world (which we dont) to escape any culpability.
If man controls the world why didn’t they stop these fires once they were started? Answer: we dont control nature.
Fire safety tip from someone that grew up in a nearly year round fire season area. If you're ever in a valley or backed up against a hill/mountain ect. Do not try to escape uphill. Fire travels unbelievably fast up hill. If you can escape into the wind, meaning if there is a breeze you want it on your face, head that way. Fires can jump 8 lane highways no problem, so don't stop even when you think you're safe.
God bless the good people of Portugal. Respect.
ASTONISHING STORY and you were there is just amazing ... happy u came thru this!!! ... awful losses
Seeing a documentary where narrator is the one who made it through the disaster itself just downright surreal. It’s a miracle that you have been through it and lived to tell the tale.
I live in Las Alpujarras, Spain. I have seem a mountain on fire. You never forget that. I remember watching the news from Portugal. Hombre lo siento...
It always baffles me when you have places that are known to have frequent natural disasters every year, the gov't doesn't install disaster shelters along the side of the road every X kilometres apart and then when there's a disaster (like a tornado, forest fire etc) people could not only use them but also have communication to a rescue station to let them know when help is coming, the status of the disaster etc.
Those poor poor people 😢 i can't think of anything more terrifying tbh.. horrific.
RIP to all
I've chanced upon this channel and hooked! Watched every video now. Great work!
Wow, hearing you report on a disaster that you personally experienced is surreal. Wildfires are a whole other level of terrifying.
I live in a city in Canada 🇨🇦 where farmland meets the Boreal Forest, so not only have wild fires burned north of us every sumner, but we had the misfortune of driving through one, giving a completely different perspective.
Fires that jump from tree top to tree top are common here due to old trees, Mistletoe (Witches Broom) etc contributing to it. We are fortunate to have some of the best wildfire crews stationed just outside of town, it is truly amazing what they manage to save every year, lives and dwellings.
In some cases if the fires are of no threat, they are allowed to burn out old forest, to allow for rejuvenation, it truly is astounding how nature rebounds!
Thank you for this interesting video. I was surprised to learn that eucalyptus trees are common in Portugal and wondered how they got there. They are native to Australia and responsible for the wildfires there as they depend on fire for reproduction. They were imported to California for gardens and may be responsible for the spread of some wildfires there as well. So the solution to reducing the fire damage there would be to eradicate the eucalyptus trees. Unfortunately, since this seems impractical, it is worrisome to think that these fires will continue indefinitely. Preparing for them would seem to be prudent, but they are unpredictable, so how is it possible to ever be fully prepared for something like this?
These trees were brought in because it provided back then the most valuable income for farmers. The soil here is of very poor quality so famines were plenty back on the day. The rural population found these trees useful because there is a huge demand for the celulose in the paper industry. They grow quickly and multiple times. They also dry oit the soil even further. Though buggers. It's curious on how well they adapted even if Portugal is in the antipodes of Australia.
I've watched quite a few australian doco's about forest fires, since being next door so to speak in NZ and being intrigued by fire behaviour, couple of points.
Fire spotting - this is where the updraft of the fire sucks up burning material then gravity pulls them back down in front of the fire. Thus propagating the fire faster than expected / normal and eucalyptus that are shaggy bark / loose bark do this spotting very effectively. This spotting can cause fires some distance (100's m / km's?) from the fire front, so what happens is the landscape bursts into flame all at once from the front + spotting. So moves really really fast.
Radiant heat - this is deadly at twice the flame height. So tall trees and tall flame equals very long reach of death. 100m+ flame height can be achieved in a fire storm, so that is 200+ meters away the heat is deadly! This is a very long reach.
Australia has a system whereby home owners are responsible for their own lives and property. This is because vast spaces with not many people means no guarantee any help will come. So as much as most communities have fire volunteers with gear etc. don't rely on it. The rule is get out early, or stay and defend. Most deaths occur where people decide to stay but once the true magnitude of the fire comes apparent folks understandable freak out and try and flee. Which is the worth thing possible. As you say pitch black, intense heat, possible lack of oxygen, slow roads = flame front overtakes and death occurs.
Whereas if people stay and defend, they move inside to shelter when the flame front comes over (outside in this time is death). Fire hardening of homes helps, like glass that cracks but doesn't break, curtains that reflect heat and don't catch alight, non plastic gutters free of debris etc. Then once the flame front passes folk can come out and put out an fires that are threatening property.
Here in east tennesse. We watched Gatlinburg ablaze as 2 children were playing with matches near a cabin, during the dry heat of summer. Causing a fire that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
From the downtown street of Gatlinburg. You could stand among the beautiful little cottage shaped houses and tourist attractions, and look up at the surrounding mountains to see a crowd of hell surrounding every exit out.
Indeed a terrible tragedy I live in Canada and we are currently going through terrible forest fires.
I'll have to watch later after work ty
I was leaving Fátima at that day when I heard the news reports, and as you said first, I kinda ignored (the usual fire, nothing special) - then as the tragedy became clear, I was shocked as how had this happen? (and a freak lightning? Believable once or twice, but not always, like they tried to blame on the sun during a fire that started at night!! - true story) - and the worst part: the government promised to rebuild everyone homes - 6 years later: only the holiday home of the ones that have money are rebuilt, the rest? Best case scenario are those square temporary houses, worse case scenario: they still live in friends houses or with distant relatives - this how much our government cares about us - outside of this rumble, I hope these deaths will never repeat 😢
Yes - corruption again....
God bless you pal, I've got so much respect for folk like you and yours, living the dream.
Strange times though my friend.
That was truly horrifying. I'm surprised, and thankful, those who sheltered in the water tank didn't boil. RIP.
As a Californian, the shots of burned out cars melted to the road reminds me of the deadly Camp Fire that devoured the entire town of Paradise, California in 2018, that was started similarly by our state's power company monopoly PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric)'s negligence. There was also a fatal gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno in 2012 that blew up an entire suburban neighborhood very close to where I live and grew up. That event was our first experience with how devastating and infuriating an entirely preventable tragedy of this nature is. I see very little about these PG&E incidents mentioned at all on any of my favorite disaster channels, maybe you would consider covering it. I'm sorry you had to live through this event, but the personal perspective to this video definitely makes it stand out among *your others, and we Californians feel the people of Portugal's pain on the scarily increasing frequency and intensity of so-called "once in a lifetime wildfires" have become much, much more regular than just once in our own lifetimes.
edit typo
Good one as usual. So sorry for you and your mates.
Living in the mountains of the western United States.
I have the deepest empathy for those who lost their lives so far away from where I stand.
we have very regular fires of this intensity in Australia, it's the oils in the eucalypts that cause this intense heat. devastating.
Another great piece of film-making, thank you. The emotion in your commentary was clear to hear and added much to the gravitas of what must have been terrifying. Glad you and yours were OK.
Lembro-me bem deste dia, de olhar para o céu escuro e sentir o ar tão abafado! Muito triste.
I had heard about this firestorm, but never heard the details. I grew up in southern California, where we would have severe fires in the hills and canyons every decade or so. Interestingly, I was recently reading about the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire in Montana. The descriptions of how fast that fire overtook the smokejumpers who died there is very similar to the fire behavior of the Portugal fire storm.
5:15 trees exploding. We get a lot of this in Australia. The heat evaporates the eucalyptus and when the fire reaches the tree it simply goes boom...
If you build a house in the middle of a forest, expect the worst.
I really enjoy your videos. You make everything or most everything understandable. Thanks.
Everything you said is true. I have friends and family who live there and survived the horrible day. My parents would have driven on the street of death, if they wouldn't have been told to drive into the opposite direction by some stranger. My family and I are so thankful to God that they all survived this day.
Sou residente de Santa Comba Dão, tinha apenas 12 anos quando o incêndio de Outubro de 2017 impactou esta área. Estava a estudar alguma matéria de Ciências Naturais durante a tarde do dia 15 quanto a eletricidade caiu várias vezes em uns minutos, coisa inesperada, não sabia da existência do incêndio até uma hora depois, durante o anoitecer, quando o meu pai avistou fumo e um clarão laranja nas proximidades. Tivemos de fazer o jantar a uns dos nossos vizinhos porque eles tinham fogão elétrico e não podiam usá-lo pela falta de eletricidade. Após eles terem saído, vimos mais fumo perto da varanda e fechámos todas as janelas e fomos descansar às 10h da noite.
Fomos acordados pelos pais às 2h da manhã, nesta altura havia bastante clarão a vir das janelas, fui dito que iram meter com uns amigos na sua loja de roupa perto do centro da cidade para se protegerem do incêndio, fomos para lá às 2h30m. Havia tanto fumo lá fora, era difícil respirar, acabamos por vir lá de carro. Eventualmente chegámos à loja e fomos descansar lá dentro.
Voltámos ao nosso apartamento às 6h, quando não havia mais incêndio visível na área e acordámos às 11h com eletricidade e os vizinhos em casa.
Não lembro muito do que aconteceu após este momento, este incêndio ocorreu há 6 anos.
Ainda se pode encontrar evidências do incêndio, existe fuligem em vários sinais de estrada, alguns na cidade, outros nas estradas como na N2 e na N234. Por 2 anos, se me lembro corretamente, havia bastante floresta queimada na IP3 entre Treixedo e Tondela, na área de Chamadouro, assim como na N2 perto de Vimieiro. Houve 3 vítimas no concelho de Santa Comba Dão devido a este incêndio.
very moving story. thanks for sharing
We had a very similar event in Greece back in 2017, the Mati fire as is now called which resulted in 104 deaths in a matter of minutes.
Having lived through Victoria's Black Saturday fires in 2009, I hear you man.
Thank you for your personal account and photos!
I really like hearing about RUclipsrs lives, especially in situations like this.
Glad your wife and yourself were both OK!
Wild fires are such a crazy unpredictable monster. Living in Australia we have had a few significant fire storms in the last decade. It's hard to comprehend how much land gets destroyed in such quick moving events.
Another fantastic video about a disaster I'd not heard of! This fire is eerily similar to the Camp Fire of 2018. Some folks tried to drive away and didn't make it. The death toll was in the eighties.
A few comments have mentioned that fire - I will have a look into it.
I like a story where the narrator can draw on their own personal experience. This was fascinating. You have a new subscriber.
it all reminds me strongly of the Camp Fire in Butte County, California, in 2018. In the first day, the fire consumed over an acre a second. 70,000 acres consumed in less than 18 hours, with 85 people killed, most in the first four hours of the fire. No one had ever seen anything like it before... unfortunately, there have been others since that were nearly as bad. Even the Camp Fire pales in comparison to the Black Saturday Bushfires in Australia. 1.1 MILLION acres consumed and 173 people killed, with winds driving the fires at 100 km an hour. How does one even hope to try and get out of the way of something like that? Sadly, fires like these, like what you went through, are just going to become more and more common. Such is the nature of climate change. I am glad that you and the missus made it through. Always keep your bug out bag ready to go, because this won't be the last one you see, I'm afraid.
After some time learning youre living in Portugal, when I was the thumbnail and intro titlecard, Im just bracing ALOT lf your own stories and i was not disappointed lol. Glad youre alright and peachy dude
This absolutely was a *firestorm* vs. a normal wildfire. Firestorms are rare phenomena; they require an ideal set of conditions to touch off. But once a firestorm gets started, it literally begins to generate its own weather. Giant thunderstorm-like pyrocumulonimbus clouds form above the fire. They dump no rain, but they can add further fuel to the fire by generating lightning and creating microbursts. Fire tornadoes are also sometimes seen, mostly generated by the heat of the fire interacting with the storm cloud's updraft. Firestorms can move faster than deer can run, can start fires many kilometres away from the main front, and the temperature inside them is enough to melt firefighters' aluminum emergency shelters. Anyone caught in the open in a firestorm is literally cremated.
The infamous Peshtigo Wisconsin fire, which killed an estimated 2000+ people, was a firestorm.
The raven's eye I found you because of the gillingham bus disaster I have been hoping someone shares That tragedy with people. But Jim was also hit by another tragedy in 1929 gillingham fair dishonest
I've been to the cemetery of the 24 young Marines that were killed. I have been to the graves of the 24 young Marines. It is very upsetting to see their graves. From a History nerd from gillingham thank you.
thank you so much for making this video.
OMG, this is so tragic! I'm at a loss of words.