The air is thick. The hills are burning. And for the people of Blaenavon, life right now means living in the shadow of one of the most dramatic wildfires Wales has seen in years.
A massive blaze tearing across the mountainside above the town has brought firefighters, farmers, volunteers and army personnel together in a round-the-clock battle to protect the community and the landscape surrounding it.
“It’s just hard to breathe up here,” one resident said, summing up what daily life has become for thousands of people in this corner of Torfaen.
The wildfire, which has consumed large stretches of moorland above Blaenavon, has triggered one of the biggest multi-agency responses seen in the area in recent memory. Fire crews have been working exhausting shifts on difficult terrain, with the steep and uneven hillsides making the job significantly harder than a standard callout.
Farmers with local knowledge of the land have proved invaluable, helping crews navigate routes that would otherwise be inaccessible to emergency vehicles. Their involvement has been credited with helping contain sections of the fire that could have spread much further into surrounding areas.
Army personnel have also been deployed to support the effort, with soldiers working alongside civilian responders in a coordinated push to get the blaze under control. The military presence underlines just how serious the situation has become.
Volunteers from the local community have shown up in force too, doing everything from ferrying supplies to supporting those who have been most affected by the smoke and disruption. It is the kind of response that defines a tight-knit community under pressure.
Blaenavon sits on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, and the moorland above the town is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, adding another layer of concern to an already serious situation. The ecological damage being caused to the upland habitat is significant, with conservationists watching events closely and hoping for rain that has so far refused to arrive.
Dry and windy conditions have made the firefighting effort brutally difficult. Every time crews feel they are making progress, a shift in the wind can push the fire in a new direction, threatening areas that had previously seemed safe.
For residents, the psychological toll is building alongside the physical one. The smell of smoke has become a constant presence. Windows stay shut. Children are being kept indoors. People are checking the hillside before they go to sleep and again when they wake up.
Local farmers have spoken about the damage being done to grazing land that their families have worked for generations. Some have lost fencing and infrastructure. The longer the fire burns, the greater the long-term impact on the agricultural community that depends on this land.
Emergency services have urged people to stay away from the affected hillside areas and avoid adding to the pressure on roads that are being used by response vehicles. Air quality warnings have been issued for parts of the surrounding area, with vulnerable residents advised to take particular care.
The response from across Wales has been notable. Fire services have brought in additional resources and there has been widespread public support for those on the frontline of the battle. Social media has been full of messages of solidarity for Blaenavon and its people.
Nobody is pretending this is going to be over quickly. The conditions that created this fire have not gone away, and forecasters are not offering much hope of the sustained rainfall that would finally bring the situation under control.
For now, the people of Blaenavon are doing what communities do when they are pushed to the limit. They are pulling together, looking out for each other, and waiting for the day when the smoke finally clears from the hills above their town.