Mt Archer, the mountain I live on is on fire, and I’ve just spent most of the night awake, spraying the outside of my Oregon Pine house with water to keep it cool and damp, and dousing the flying embers which kept landing on the roof and veranda’s.

Right now, it’s 7am, the wind has died down and it looks like the worst of it has passed us and is now heading towards the town below the mountains, so I’m taking some time out to write this

Have a look at this pic I took in the night, of the fire raging below a neighbours house. It’s just the same view from my house but the smoke was thicker around mine so this pic is better. Because I used a very wide angle lens the flames look quite distant, but the reality is that fires were raging everywhere – a small fire was raging through a gully less than 50 yards away and bushes in the garden burst into flames.

The whole mountain is on fire. It’s just been on the national news. One house has been destroyed, people lower down the mountain have been evacuated,and it’s been a highly dangerous night.

It’s been quite scary, though the mountain is still swarming with fire crew and they tell me they’ll be here until it’s over.

Here’s a brief news story on the fires, and a photo