DEFCON

The defense readiness condition..... DEFCON 3 : ‘Air Force ready to mobilize in 15 minutes’. ( excuse the American spelling , but after all it is a USA term ). A low flying helicopter had just triggered our  very own preparations. Rather than a threat of imminent war , ours was a wild fire much too close for comfort . 

 Clouds of white smoke were interspersed with puffs of black as another tree busts into flames . The helicopter was making frequent water bombing sorties , so the Sapper Pompiers  must be on the scene. Previously  I though the helicopter carried a small bucket , but closer inspection showed that this was a suspended pump which could fill a large tank built into the frame of the ‘copter .

This was less than 1km away and there was a strong swirling wind which could have brought the fire to us in a frighteningly short time.  So our DEFCON consisted of closing all doors, windows and shutters, placing gas bottles next to the pool ( to be pushed in at the next step ),clearing outside cushions  and gathering essentials ( phones, wallets, passports and Jan’s new iPad);  ready to flee . The fire was nowhere near our escape route so we could pause and watch . 

Our gallant men , and women ( the Chief is a woman ) overcame this fire and the smoke thinned out . We relaxed , and returned to DEFCON 1( ah no that's nuclear war ...5 ) . Shutters opened , everything put back . We did make a few alterations . Empty gas tanks were returned to depot , and spare full ones stored in the pool house ( a concrete construction with steel door.). We will consider our own drone so next time we will can see better what’s going on ; intelligence is the key to appropriate response .