Families evacuated from holiday camp after huge fire

Brian O'Loughlin

The effects of extreme heat in other parts of the world have come closer to home in recent days, as Mullingar people at a holiday campsite in France had a lucky escape from a huge fire, and Mullingar Town Band had to make late minute changes to a trip of a lifetime in the United States (see page 2).

When Michael Cleary spoke to the Westmeath Examiner on Friday, he and his family were back home in Mullingar only a couple of hours after escaping from a massive fire at a holiday campsite in France.

Michael was wide awake despite hardly any sleep in two days, “high on adrenaline”, as he told the story of a family break that ended prematurely, and thankfully, with no fatalities or serious injuries.

“We only flew out there yesterday (Thursday). We weren’t two hours there and we were evacuated out of the camp – it’s just surreal,” he said.

“Our flight out to Carcassonne was at half five on Thursday morning, so we were up at two o’clock. We didn’t really sleep Wednesday night, we were up getting ready, so we’re fairly sleep deprived now, a bit all over the place, to be honest with you.”

That was no surprise given what happened. The Clearys were part of a family group of 17 holidaying together at Le Brasilia campsite, near the border with Spain. A number of the others had arrived earlier, and some had been planning to go yesterday, Monday.

When Michael and family arrived, the first thing they did was check in, put their stuff in their cabin and go for lunch at the pool bar. While they were there, his daughter Aoife returned to the cabin, and that was when they first noticed something was amiss. “There was a bit of commotion in the pool. I look up and see clouds going really fast.”

“I didn’t pass any remarks at the start but then the whole atmosphere at the pool changed and everybody started running out.

“So we followed them. I could see black smoke, and the fire in Aoife’s direction, so I ran down. My wife and son (Aine and John) waited at the pool.”

Aoife had realised the danger and was on her way back to the others – with their passports. “I don’t know how she managed to think of it, I certainly wouldn’t have, but she grabbed our four passports. We met the other relatives, and made our way to the football pitch (emergency meeting point), behind the pool.

“We start to see the black smoke and then this plane flies over us with water (a fire-fighting aircraft). Bits of ash were starting to fall and we thought ‘this is not good’. There were beaches behind the football pitch, so we made our way there, and then everybody else started going to the beach.

“We heard explosions, we think gas canisters exploding in the campsites. We don’t know what started it, a barbecue maybe, we don’t know, but it got progressively worse and worse and a big billow of smoke started going up.”

They walked along the beach to a safe distance, and spent three or four hours there while campsite staff and local officials, including fire-fighters, dealt with the situation.

“They were doing their best. I think it was late last night before they got it under control, and by that stage, we were gone. We got one of the buses sent for us and we were taken to a community centre.

“It was chaos there because nobody knew what was going on, but we got to the emergency accommodation, got something to eat and we were sent to hostels last night (Thursday).”

Some people found alternative accommodation, but the Clearys took the beds offered, and Michael turned his thoughts to getting home. He found flights for early on Friday, changed their return flights from July 13, paid using Google Wallet on his phone, and booked the driver who had transferred them to the airport to take them back at short notice. The driver said he’d seen the news about the fire and was happy to help.

Their car was parked at Dublin Airport, and its key, their suitcases and other belongings were destroyed in the fire. They got a lift home to Mullingar, and returned after with the spare car key.

“I had to help somebody who was very frail get off one of the jet skis and try and get him to a safe place, he must have been in his late 70s or early 80s. I don’t know where his family was, but it was just it was surreal. It was just chaos.

“You think ‘is this happening? We can’t get over it, we’re sleep-deprived and we don’t know what’s what. We’re running on adrenaline since yesterday.”

“Everyone was worried, because we saw the fire coming in and we were walking away from it, but it was still coming towards us. The only thing was that I knew the wind was blowing in the other direction, but the gas cylinders were igniting – which I presume is what the explosions were – and setting off fires along the way we were walking.”

“The only thing is thank God it didn’t happen at night time, because nobody would have known where to go. The wind last night was really strong so it would have been a lot worse.”

Kevin Darcy, also from Mullingar, his wife, Orla, and their children Molly, Niamh, Aileen, and Colm, were part of the same family group as the Clearys, and Kevin relayed a similar story. They had arrived the day before, and when the fire broke out on Thursday, they were having lunch in their cabin. “Niamh noticed unusual clouds, and there aren’t many clouds there normally. We could hear crackling, then smoke started billowing and we knew something wasn’t right.

“There were no alarms, but we did the basics – we grabbed our passports and our mobile phones and nothing else, and headed for the evacuation point, a football field, at the far end of the campsite. We assumed it was going to be a minor thing and we’d be back.”

Realising there was only one entrance/exit at the pitch, Kevin and family went to the beach, found others of their group and went with them to the emergency accommodation.

While the Clearys got home on Friday, the D’Arcys were there till Sunday, and were taken back to the campsite on Friday, but there was nothing left, of their cabins or their belongings.

“The fire went through in a straight line, it left one side and the other untouched; some family members, their cabins were ok, but ours was completely gone.”

Kevin was thankful the consequences of the fire were not more serious: “We were lucky it wasn’t night time, it could have been so much worse.”

As things calm down, the families now have to see what they can claim for on their insurance, but, as Michael said, everyone is safe and well, and that’s the main thing.

There was no official confirmation of fatalities at the time of writing yesterday, Monday.