Oxford University students run for their lives as terrifying wildfire surrounds their Algarve villa

•  The group rushed to escape their villa in the early hours of Thursday morning
•  Wildfires had been raging near them in Quinto Verde so they set alarms to check
• Ex-student said: ‘We screamed to wake everyone up and grabbed our passports’ 
• The area was blackened and the ground smouldering as they could not breathe

Seven terrified university friends had no choice but to run for their lives after a wildfire surrounded their Algarve villa. 

Ash fell into the pool while the group rushed to safety, frantically cramming themselves into a car to escape the furious flames closing in on them.

The group of friends had jetted off for a week in the Portuguese sunshine to celebrate their time at the University of Oxford coming to an end. 

But things took a dramatic turn in the early hours of July 14.

The group had jetted off for a week in Portugal to celebrate the end of their time at the University of Oxford

Wildfires had been raging about 1-2km from their Airbnb villa, near Quinto Verde, for most of the day. 

One of the group, Millie Farley, 22 from Wombourne, told BirminghamLive they were worried about sleeping through the night so had set an alarm for 3am to keep a lookout. 

This alarm may have potentially saved their lives.

When the alarm went off, they checked outside and could see a ‘very small, seemingly insignificant bonfire-like fire’ about 100m away. 

Ms Farley said: ‘We decided to stay up and keep an eye on it to make sure that it was nothing to be concerned about.

At 3am they checked outside and could see a ‘very small, seemingly insignificant bonfire-like fire’ about 100m away from their villa near Quinto Verde

‘After about 20 minutes of anxious waiting, we stood up to head back outside. The image that greeted me when I pulled back the curtains to open our patio door is something that will haunt me for a long time – flames were literally less than 2m from my window, ash was falling into the pool and the sky was lit up in a fiery orange glow.’

She continued: ‘It was genuinely terrifying. 

‘We screamed to wake everyone up and grabbed our passports as we ran out of the front door to the car. 

‘Without hesitating we drove at rapid speeds down the lane, seven of us crammed into a little Fiat Panda.’

The former modern languages student felt genuinely terrified by the sudden fires and left the villa immediately 

As they sped off to safety, Ms Farley said they were so worried that the fire would block the path, their one and only exit to the main road.

 ‘Luckily we sped out just in time,’ she said. ‘The fire spread rapidly behind us, burning down trees and bushes in its path.’

About two hours later, the friends were told it was safe to return to the villa and collect their things. 

One of the group decided to fly home shortly after the morning’s dramatic events, but the six remaining friends arranged to stay in Faro before flying home on Friday.

Ms Farley, a former modern languages student, said: ‘There was no water or electricity as the wires were burnt through, but we could pack our cases and leave. The surroundings of the villa were completely blackened and the ground was still smouldering – we could barely breathe through the smoke.

Ms Farley could see flames less than 2m from the window, ash falling into the pool and the sky lit up with a fiery orange glow

‘To be honest, we could have probably stayed in the same villa because it wasn’t physically damaged from the fire and the groundskeeper was going to fix the wires. For us it was more the traumatic experience that prevented us from returning, the area is dry and barren – it’s a disaster waiting to happen.’

Many celebrities have also been caught up in the dangerous wildfires. 

Former Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne tweeted to say he had been forced to flee his mansion during a ‘terrible day in the Algarve’.

Rebekah Vardy, who is holidaying with her children in Portugal, shared a video of a helicopter carrying water on her Instagram story with the caption ‘these guys are incredible’.

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