There are 40 more troops and a helicopter from the Cabildo de Gran Canaria at disposal and the seaplane will arrive this Saturday night
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The fire in the north of Tenerife is still active, it has already burned more than 800 hectares in the municipalities of Los Realejos, San Juan de La Rambla and La Guancha and has reached the vicinity of the Teide National Park, specifically in the area of La Fortaleza .
This has been exposed to the media by the Security Councilor of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, who has revealed the “contradictory” feeling of the extinction teams because the flames do not advance towards populated areas but they do run strongly towards the summit and the national park.
He has commented that San Juan de la Rambla is the “most affected” municipality but has assessed that so far there is no personal damage or homes affected by the fire, there are not even scattered on the ground. “The fire stays away,” she has commented.
He has also pointed out that the current perimeter is not well defined because there are many “entrants and exits” and has indicated that this afternoon, around 4:00 p.m., there was a “sudden change” in the direction of the hundred that took the fire towards the East towards the Valley of La Orotava.
Pérez has also insisted that there are no planned evacuations and pointed out that access to all the mountains of the island has been prohibited this weekend due to the rise in temperatures on Sunday.
The objective, he pointed out, is to prevent near misses like the one in El Tanque this afternoon, which was quickly controlled and only affected six hectares, forcing air resources to be diverted to the area.
“It is a risk that we cannot take,” he commented, highlighting as an example that an equestrian event has been suspended this weekend because although it was going to be held far from the fire, in the event of an incident they would have to be used means operating in the front of the fire.
Pérez has advocated “intensifying” all efforts this Saturday before the arrival of a new episode of high temperatures starting on Sunday.
The head of the Civil Protection and Emergency Care Service of the Government of the Canary Islands, Monserrat Román, has predicted that this Saturday the hectares burned will already be around 1,000 due to the difficulty of the fire in the San Juan ravine because it can only be attacked by air and goes up towards the national park.
He has recognized that “the right flank is well controlled” and a “favorable” outlook is expected tonight because the temperature can drop to 16ºC and the relative humidity will also increase.
The operation is for 250 people and tonight practically the same number of troops will work as during the day – more than 150 – and this Saturday 18 forestry agents from the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and twenty from La Gomera will join.
In addition, the helicopter of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria is already on the island in such a way that eleven aerial means will already be operating this Saturday and the arrival of the seaplane from the Peninsula is expected for tomorrow night.
THE FIRE WILL NOT REACH ICOD
The director of extinction of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martínez, has agreed with the counselor on the “contradictory” nature of this Friday’s session because it was possible to prevent the fire from reaching inhabited areas thanks to a “day of a lot of work” but “pending” the front that goes to the summit.
He has also said that the change in the wind in the afternoon left them “blind” at first because a lot of smoke rose in an easterly direction to the point that they had to use some aerial means to ensure that there were no secondary sources.
Tomorrow, with the improvement of the meteorological conditions, he has indicated, “we expect better news”.
The president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, has been satisfied that the fire has been contained in the west and has not reached Icod de los Vinos and a defense firewall is also being prepared so that it does not reach La Orotava.
Right now, he has indicated, the fire can only rise towards Teide and trusts that the wind will blow in the opposite direction “and take the fire to burned places”.
