LIVING IN FEAR OF FIRE ON THE HILL
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F YOU’RE looking for jaw-dropping views, then a hill overlooking this Welsh city could be fairly high on your desirability list.
Residents living near the top of Swansea’s Kilvey Hill are lucky enough to enjoy panoramic views of Swansea city centre, Swansea Docks, Swansea Bay, the lower Swansea Valley, Bonymaen, Neath and Port Talbot.
Picturesque views are a daily reality, but there’s a price to be paid for residents of this natural viewpoint.
For thousands of years, Kilvey Hill has stood guard over Swansea. It survived heavy industry, Second World War bombings, and fires which ravaged it in the 1970s.
Sadly, they weren’t the last of the fires. An orange glow and palls of smoke visible across Swansea Bay are now an all too familiar sight pouring from the top of the hill, especially during dry weather and the warmer months.
On May 17, 2019, half the hillside went up in flames, raging through the night and watched by distressed onlookers.
Forest fires are something residents have just had to get used to. “It’s part of your life,” said Mike Phippen.
Mike has lived on Kilvey Hill with his wife Barbra for 44 years. He said that since he moved there, he could pretty much guarantee a fire every year.
“Every springtime without fail, around the Easter holidays or when the kids are off from school, there’s fires.
“We do worry that it could reach our home. Luckily we have a road behind us which is about 20-30 feet from our house.
“There’s a good distance of gap between us and the trees so we are reasonably safe here, but there’s always that possibility that the sparks blowing about, one of those could land in the wrong place and it could be very difficult.”
The 72-year-old described the worst fire he had seen, which happened last year, something he admitted the family did not want to go through again.
“We were very close to it and it was a very frightening time. The flames and wind were blowing towards us and our immediate neighbours.
“It is really worrying and not a good time at all, I get so upset and annoyed at these stupid people who think it’s great fun to start a fire and watch the fire service and people in the area deal with this carnage, it’s dreadful.
“You never know what time these things happen, and in the dark you can’t see the smoke, which makes it even more scary,” he explained.