We all think well of the fire brigade when we are in trouble, and perhaps overlook them at other times. Here in the south west of France, like some other parts of the world, where summer heat brings with it the problems of big countryside fires, the volunteers of the fire brigade are the unsung heroes of our community. They give up many hours of their time for their training. No one is more grateful to them, than Carol and I.

During the evening of Sunday, January 26th 1996, we were getting ready to settle down for the evening, after what had been a terrible day’s weather. Suddenly Carol became aware of water running in the garden outside our front door, as opposed to just puddles lying on the surface. We do not live near a river and the village is relatively flat, but with a tendency to slope down towards the next village. I decided to get some boots and a waterproof jacket to investigate why this water was flowing into our garden. In the five minutes that it took to get them, the garden was under 40cms of water and our car was already flooded.

The water rose steadily, but we still didn’t realize that there was danger of our house also becoming flooded. When the water started to rise up the outside of our sliding glass doors, we put towels down to mop up the water that began to infiltrate, but it quickly became obvious that they were never going to work, and so we decided to evacuate the house. We started to put some clothes in a suitcase, and whilst doing so, the large sliding glass doors exploded with the pressure of water against them. Suddenly the interior of the house was filled with one meter of water. The water cascaded into the bedroom where we were packing our suitcase, and the free standing wardrobe, full of clothes, toppled on to us, trapping us against the bed. Fortunately the level of water was sufficient to make the wardrobe buoyant and I was able to get it back on its feet and we then waded out of the house, holding the suitcase on my head. Almost immediately we realized that we may have made a mistake, because the garden, being lower than the house, had even deeper water, and it was flowing quickly. Floating debris came crashing against us and as a result our legs were cut and bruised. We were able to get across the road to our neighbours house, where, we then spent the remainder of the night in one of their upstairs bedrooms.
The fire brigade worked throughout the night, searching for possible victims of the flooding and then for some weeks after, cleaning up. The result of this flash flood was that three children drowned in the village, and an elderly lady had a heart attack brought on by the shock of the flood. We discovered that we had many good friends, who names must remain anonymous to save their shyness, but without them we would have had a much more difficult life. they know who they are and we say a big thank you to them. Although we lost a lot in financial terms we gained a lot in friendship.
During the following six months we had to move out of our house whilst it was virtually rebuilt. During that time the fire brigade not only helped with the cleaning up, but organized fund raising social events to help out those people in the village who had been the most devastated.
We were lucky because we were well insured, with AGF Assurances through their agents;

I can recommend them without reservation. Mr Jean-Luc Gazell and Mr Pierre Guy Rambaut, from their agency in St Chinian, took a personal interest in our losses, and provided us with a lot of help with our claims.

A sight frequently seen in the south of France are the fire fighting planes called "Canadairs" These planes painted yellow and red fly on patrol in pairs. At the scene of large fires in the mountains where it is difficult to reach with normal fire fighting equipment they are an invaluable help to the firemen. The very skilled pilots bomb the fire with chemicals or water, and it is to them and the fire brigade that we say a big thank you.