Fuoco in Montagna (Fire in the Mountain)

We were checking out of the supermercato in our little village when the Funky Pop ring of my cell phone played. Because I am incapable of letting a ringing phone go unanswered, I stopped what I was doing to answer.

"Christina, it's Simon. There is a fire below your house. It's not too close but the winds are shifting your way. I'm at your place now."

I was thinking that it is a good idea to answer phones when they ring.

"But don't worry," he continued, "The Vigili di Fuochi (firemen) are here. They just can't find the road down to the fire."

After explaining where the road was, just outside our gate, and listening to Simon explain it in fractured Italian, I told him we would be there in a few minutes.

On our way up the hill, we stopped to let a fire truck pass us.

"I bet they don't know where to go," John commented.

We arrived at the house to find another vehicle on its way down the dirt track, with Simon surveying the smoke in the not too distant hillside below us. He told us he could hear the crackling.

"You got lucky. The winds just shifted the other way. Otherwise, you would have been in trouble, " he announced. Our house is stone, but we are surrounded by trees.

John, always calm when others see a reason to be a little excited, sat down
under the pergola and began to put together a new device for sweeping the pool. Simon and I kept watch on the fire fighting.

A helicopter loomed overhead and we wondered if it would scoop water from our pool or Simon's, but it seemed to have it's own source. It swooped in, dumped water on the smoking area, and then came frightening close to us on the terrace as it made its way back for more. It made at least a dozen swoops and drops.

"I wonder if he gets paid by the number of times he does that," John commented as he screwed together some part of the pool device.

The firemen who had passed us on the hill finally made their way down our road and had to be directed to the fire, though it seemed obvious enough.

"I knew they didn't know where they were going," muttered John.

Eventually the lost firemen found the ones already on the scene through walkie-talkies. Or they could have just followed the smoke.

Fire in the mountain is something that has to be taken seriously, particularly when it is dry and the winds are high. Several years ago a fire broke out on the distant hills and moved so quickly that Simon was ready to evacuate his place. The whole hillside was black and barren for a long time but it has regenerated.

Despite an element of comedy, the fire fighters did an impressive job of putting out the fire quickly.

Meanwhile John got the new pool device together and is eager to try it out.