The Tenerife firewhich was declared last Thursday affects the municipalities of The RealejosSan Juan de la Rambla, La Guancha, La Orotava and Icod de los Vinos, their situation has improved throughout the day, although there are concerns that tonight it could go down to populated areas of La Orotava.
That is the biggest concern, that the fire could move towards La Orotava, with the various changes in the direction of the wind that are taking place. The area affected by the fire already reaches 2,156 hectares with a perimeter of 20 kilometers, although the condition has decreased and “it is better than we expected,” said the regional president, Ángel Víctor Torres. “This morning there were 2,000 hectares burned, so during the day the progress of the fire has been slowing down, which is good news,” he said.
The president told the media after going to the Advanced Command Post (PMA) that the condition during the day “has been perhaps better than expected” due to the increase in humidity and the reduction in the intensity of the wind (which is located by below 30 kilometers per hour) that “play in favor of extinction”, although the high temperature continues to be a problem.
However, he clarified that the fire is not advancing as fast as the one registered in 2007, which spread rapidly due to the fact that winds of up to 70 km / h were registered at that time.
In this sense, the authorities point out that there is a forecast that the weather will worsen from Sunday to Monday night, so “we have to take advantage of these hours” to try to contain the fire thanks to the work being carried out by more than 150 troops, to which all the bodies and security forces are added.
The head of the Canarian Executive wanted to recall that there are around 60 homes that have been preventively evacuated in the municipalities of Los Realejos and La Orotava, although for the moment they have been rehoused in the homes of family and friends. However, the Las Llanadas Sports Center has been set up as a provisional meeting point for the relocation of those affected in hotels in Los Realejos or the San Juan de la Rambla Sports Center. He affirmed that “we must be on the lookout, since the fire has been spreading”, being the source of most concern the one that walks towards the Valle de La Orotava, the nucleus with the largest population.
On the other hand, Ángel Víctor Torres has also asked for a lot of caution, especially after having detected several people of foreign origin who were hiking. He recalled that “no one can approach the affected areas.” In addition, several roads have been cut, including the TF-21, which connects La Orotava with El Portillo, in the Teide National Park.
The head of the Civil Protection service, Montserrat Román, recalled the preventive evacuations of some 585 people due to the advance of the fire in Tigaiga and the different control maneuvers that were being carried out on that slope.
He highlighted the descending southerly winds towards the evacuated area, and pointed out that in Los Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla and La Guancha, it will be urban firefighters who will protect the homes.
He pointed out that a sea of clouds and haze is expected for today, with difficulties in the first hours for the visibility of aerial means. He stressed that the humidity will be 35% in the morning but will drop throughout the day, and despite the changes in the wind, the gusts are expected to be weak, although a strategy of “reinforcement, control and surveillance” will be carried out before its advance. .
This weekend the Archipelago is on pre-alert for haze, as well as on pre-alert for maximum temperatures that could reach an average of 36ºC, a situation that rises to alert in Gran Canaria where more than 38ºC is expected. The alert for forest fires is also maintained throughout the weekend and the one to come in the western islands and Gran Canaria. In Tenerife, the prohibition of access to all forest areas of the Island will continue.
A hard day
For his part, the Brifor spokesman, Pedro Martínez, acknowledged that it was a “hard day” for the media fighting the fire, and that the gusts of wind have caused conventional columns that made them overcome the firewall and access the hillside of Tigaiga, an area “impracticable for terrestrial means due to its steep slope and the generation of rolling elements”. The various attacks in that area “have not borne fruit” until late afternoon.
In the western area, in Icod, work has been done to perimeter the fire at high altitudes, such as the Vergara canal, which had some damage, a break that was resolved. While the progress towards the Teide National Park is very slow since “there is not so much fuel”.
Finally, the insular president, Pedro Martín, pointed out during the day that “we have tried to prevent the fire from reaching Tigaiga, but several firewalls have jumped. A good news would be that tonight the fire did not have to be subject to constant changes of wind. We had a wind that we thought would carry the flames to the coast last night and we set up the operation in that direction, however we had crosswinds.”
