The wave forecast was gigantic and Magic Seaweed kept its promise. Line after line fired at the Bukit yesterday in 8-foot size. Unfortunately, this was not the only fire in Uluwatu.
Our man on the spot
Nicolai Steidle from Munich has recently joined the prime surfing team and is currently on his way to Bali. We already reported yesterday about the big fire near Uluwatu, but Nico was only a few meters away from the scene and can tell us what he experienced there.
Passing the disaster by a hair’s breadth
“”I went with three friends to the surf spot in Padang Padang yesterday, July 23rd at about 10.30am, when we saw thick black clouds of smoke rising from Uluwatu around noon. What we initially thought to be controlled waste incineration soon turned out to be a major fire. The flames flashed 15 meters into the air, and the clouds of smoke gradually covered the surf spot around Uluwatu until it was no longer visible from Padang-Padang.
There was obvious unrest both in the line-up and on the beach, a whole armada of fire engines and police cars moved towards Uluwatu.
We also left the water and headed for Single Fin, Uluwatu. And in fact, the fire blazed just a few meters from the popular party hotspot on the Bukut peninsula. Dozens of helpers and the fire brigade tried to protect the fire from attacks on other houses.
One local told me that the fire was caused by a short circuit in the electrical system, the same hotel probably already burned last year, but could be extinguished in time. Fire protection regulation a la Indonesia.
Fortunately there were no personal injuries, but apart from the 4 houses a few scooters had to die, which one can certainly cope with due to the oversupply of motorized two-wheelers in Bali. It seemed to me that the general public was very reassured that the single Fin was saved.
On the next page you can see a video of the fire.
