Surviving Portugal wildfire
FIRST PERSON
VISEU, Portugal — On the 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima, in the land where churches dominate the landscape, we counted unexpected blessings: We witnessed up close and evaded wildfire lapping up the countryside of this intruguing nation.
At press time, 27 fatalities were reported as a result of the catastrophe fanned by winds following hurricane Ophelia, which had slammed Ireland, killing scores.
The day after Oct. 15, which Portugal authorities branded “the worst day of the year for fires,” we stared down one of 100 left of 523 wildfires reportedly raging throughout one of the oldest nations in the world. In June, similar conflagration already claimed 64 lives on this side of Iberia.
Our family of five was among 45 travelers driving back up from the Algarve region of Portugal when the horizon began looking familiar – foggy from afar – before shifting skies from blue to slate, then white, auguring red hot fire underneath.
Smoke billowed from the crest of the mountains and rolled close to the freeway, where our tour bus ferried us northward to Viseu across the River Tagus from Evora and Castelo de Vide.
Wildfire creeps toward the freeway across the Serra de Estrella mountains toward the Dao vineyards in Portugal.
Tongues of flames lunged toward us before trailing behind our coach in thick plumes.
The sight brought us back to the northern counties of our home, the San Francisco Bay Area, where relatives had already evacuated from their home in Windsor, Santa Rosa, to safety. They were lucky to evade the fate of over 30 at press time, including a firefighter, and a couple found dead in their vehicle, perhaps trying to flee the inferno.
My thoughts went to associates I had just met in August at a 2-day national conference of the US Dept. of Health & Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in San Francisco. They were residents of Petaluma and Santa Rosa, who had relocated north of the Golden Gate Bridge for love of public service as nonprofit federal health insurance counselors and advocates.
We on holiday here did not know what awaited in Viseu, supposedly spared from the scorcher. Our tour director Richard gave updates, the latest assuring us the fires were under control and well beyond our location.
I thought about fellow Filipinos here and requested advisory to constituents from the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon but did not get a reply at press time.
Author and hubby meet other Filipino-American pilgrims commemorating centenary of apparitions at Fatima.
No advice was needed to say the air was far from safe, certainly not for asthmatics like my husband’s brother Jodie Moreno, a golfer used to the crisp clean air in Philippine country clubs. Our eyes smarted upon disembarking our coach. We were enveloped in a haze, our noses itched as we made our way into the Old World elegance of our hotel. We brimmed with optimism that all would be well for us and soon for the affected areas nearby and across the Atlantic in Northern California.
A knock on the door heralded delivery of masks from our tour director. He had no idea we planned to stretch our legs and buy necessities, and that the handouts were perfect. Locals gazed in wonder or condescension, but we didn’t care as we sought the nearest market for precious bottled water. Our new accessory did not stop my brother-in-law Joey Moreno, volunteer manager at Gawad Kalinga in Greenhills, Metro Manila, from snapping shots for our family Viber group.
We took a while to muster appetite for the local specialties, but Tiago, our server at the hotel dining room, exuded hospitality that made us overlook the reality around us.
“I’m not me today,” said my husband’s eldest sister Maria Paz “Tootsie” Vicente, a Manila resident and environmental advocate with the Mother Earth Foundation linked to our alma mater Miriam College, known as Maryknoll in our day. “I’m sad for the trees and of course those whose lives were lost and affected by this tragedy.”
While we were unnerved by the spectacle, we appreciated our safety, our togetherness, our gift to come from far to learn about a country whose people helped build the land of our birth.
Showers followed, an inconvenience some other time and a much-welcome gift for the people of this country.
We sent instant messages to our family in California, New Jersey, Canada, Manila, Hong Kong and Munich to reiterate our safety and deepest gratitude. —Philippine News
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