My mum received a call on Monday morning from my sister Jen, in floods of tears, describing the horrific night that her and Jon had just experienced. The fires in Portugal had ripped through their region including all their local villages and destroyed all of their land. They are extremely lucky to still be with us.

Thanks to hurricane Ophelia, the fires spread so fast that by the time they had gathered the dogs and cat and got in the car, one of the 2 directions that they could have driven to escape had been totally overwhelmed. They turned around and were eventually blocked in every other direction. All they could do was wait at a roundabout with other vehicles and people and hope that the fire couldn't reach them. Miraculously the fire went around them, 3 metres away. After it had passed the fear was then the smoke inhalation. They stayed in the car from 8.30 until 5.30 the next morning thinking that this was the end of them.

When they eventually returned home they found that pretty much everything apart from the house and the brick outbuildings had been destroyed. The log store with three years of wood completely burned to the ground. Fruit trees, vegetables, chickens, tools, cement mixer, car all gone or damaged beyond repair. It's impossible to put a price on the work that Jen and Jon have done to their land over the last 4 years.

They are much more fortunate than a lot of people in the area who have lost everything, however, despite their own losses they are helping some of these people, buying them food, helping to set up temporary shelter and donating clothes.

It would be really nice if anyone could help just a little bit in order for them to prepare for the winter. They could really do with a new generator for back up power as the solar panels don't produce as much in the winter. Also, the wood that they'd been building up for winter to keep them warm could do with being replenished and they need to build a new wood store. Jon could do with some tools in order to start again. There's a few other bits that would really help too so anything you can spare would be much appreciated. Thank you