Lightning sometimes strikes twice here.

As chance would have it we had another fire to the north of the village on 10th July 2007 and the fire helicopters were in action again. Usually they collect water from the sea but this time they were using a small purpose built reservoir which is about 500 meters outside the village. We had 'rainfall' for the first time in months as the helicopters went over the house. I managed to get a close up of one of them picking up water.




During the summer months there is nothing on the island that evenly vaguely resembles a river. This is due to a combination of the hot dry weather and government policy that 'no drop of water to the sea'. The idea was that any rain water that fell on the land should be saved for drinking and irrigation. However I recently attended a lecture given by the Cyprus Marine Protection Agency (CYMEPA) where it was stated that this policy was now acknowledged to be one which damages the sea environment because the usual flow of river water no longer nourishes the seas. A much greater emphasis is now placed on water recycling and minimizing usage.

The sight of a fire helicopter is quite novel for English people as we do not have them at home but I promise no more helicopter movies from now on.

(Unless I get requests for the "let's burn down McDonald's" fire were the helicopters came to the rescue!)