'I bulldozed the remains of my house destroyed in wildfire - it was too painful'
A woman bulldozed the smouldering remains of her home after it was destroyed by wildfires because it was too painful to look at.
Nicole Strippoli is staying in her mother's house overlooking where she used to live, which was reduced to a burnt out wreck by the flames as they tore across the mountainside in Kiotari, Rhodes three weeks ago. The wedding planner's home was uninsurable because of the risk of fires, meaning she is now hugely out of pocket.
On the night the flames came near an evacuation alarm went up, promoting Nicole to rush to the beach with her 94-year-old grandmother. They slept on the pebbles and sand overnight, before returning to assess the damage. They found the flames a metre from her home.
Despite the best furious efforts of everyone there, three buckets and water which was intermittently switched off was not enough to stop it coming closer. All of her possessions were lost.
Nicole is now attempting to rebuild her life like many Rhodians living in the small southern corner of the island which was impacted by the fires. While most of the Greek idyll is now back up and running as normal, for an unlucky few the road to normality is going to be a long one.
Major airlines Jet2 and TUI cancels ALL flights to Rhodes as wildfires rage
The remains of Nicole's home (GoFundMe)"It is very tragic what happened, we lost a hell of a lot as a family," Nicole said, explaining that her fiancé's father died on the same day. Yet she still calls the fact the fires stopped and no one died a 'miracle'.
Nicole's friend Mark Warren has launched a fundraiser for her so she can start rebuilding her home. So far close to 80 people have donated £6,000 between them.
"We are working extremely hard to get a basic form of living conditions back. We've managed to run a water pipe back to the house with a hose pipe and got auxiliary power thanks to solar power," Mark explained.
"No hot water because the water boiler in the back of the house got incinerated in the blaze. The damages just seem to increase as we discover more and more as we get further along. There was absolutely nothing to salvage from Nicole's house, everything is completely gone. (It is) currently laying in a pile of rubble and ash.
Nicole is still looking on the bright side of life. While her home is gone, her uncle's car destroyed and her fiances' motorbike wrecked, the have-a-go firefighters managed to save her mum's home from being caught up in the fire.
"We did. Thankfully we did. It is a remarkable miracle. It is burnt all the way round ( the house). All the glass in the windows were smashed."
After taking a few days to consider what to do, Nicole borrowed a friend's bulldozer to clear the remains of the house. As much as she is counting her blessings, Nicole is not completely happy with the response to the fires.
"We are not equipped for things like that, we don't have enough power. They (the government) build hotels but they are not putting money in the fire station or hospitals," she said.
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