SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Level 2 forest fire that affects this Thursday the upper area of the municipalities of Los Realejos and San Juan de La Rambla has not been stabilized and already burns about 100 hectares, with a perimeter of five kilometers.
This has been detailed in a press conference by the spokesman for the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, and the head of the Civil Protection and Emergency Attention service, Monserrat Ramos, who have insisted that the weather conditions will not improve in the next 24 hours and therefore will not stabilize in the short term.
So far, the Fuente de Pedro camping area, the Barranco de la Arena Camp, as well as the El Lagar and La Tahona recreational areas, plus 13 homes that are several kilometers from the fire front have been evacuated preventively on the recommendation of the Guard. Civil — in total there are 28 adults and three minors who stay in second homes or in the houses of relatives and friends–.
Pérez has recognized that the affected area is “relatively small” and therefore it is a “controllable magnitude” although he has commented that there are elements that require “maximum attention” by the authorities such as high temperatures, low humidity and the wind, which for now blows with less intensity than on other occasions.
“It is a small fire but with the potential to spread,” he stressed, recalling that Los Campeches has caused some of the worst forest fires on the island.
He has pointed out that “it is not foreseeable” that it will stabilize in the next few hours because the humidity is not going to drop nor will the temperatures, but there are sufficient aerial means –up to nine helicopters and the Air Tractor of La Gomera– to ensure water discharges .
Pérez has also confirmed that they have requested a seaplane from the Ministry of the Environment but it will not be available in the short term due to the large number of fires that are on the Peninsula and that they add up to some 10,000 hectares.
Pedro Martín has pointed out that they asked the Government of the Canary Islands for their resources from the first moment because the fire zone has a lot of mass that acts as fuel and large forest fires have always started in Los Campeches, and he trusts that this Friday the situation with the gradual drop in temperatures.
Román has ruled out that there will be more evacuations in the area and that it will reach homes, since the fire basically affects Monteverde and Pinar and they are waiting for a possible change in the direction of the wind during the night that could worsen the evolution.
Together with the aerial means, 230 people work in the area, of which 150 are specifically dedicated to extinction work.
Until Friday night, a substantial improvement in temperatures and an increase in humidity are not expected, so there will not be a great improvement in the coming hours, he indicated.
