SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The forest fire that broke out last Thursday in the north of Tenerife and affects five municipalities: La Orotava, Los Realejos, San Juan de la Rambla, La Guancha and Icod de los Vinos, continues without control and the area affected is estimated already in about 2,700 hectares, with a perimeter of about 27 kilometers.
The Minister of Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, highlighted at a press conference that the situation of the forest fire today is “better than yesterday”, with significant progress, and the firefighting and technical teams they are “relatively hopeful” of the progress that has been registered this Saturday.
The counselor indicated that the flank of the fire that faces the sea and the most populated areas is “calm” and it is not foreseeable that the flames will be fanned in that area; the flank facing Teide is active but it arrives “tired” and “doesn’t have much to burn”, and on the flank facing Icod de los Vinos “we are tied” because the fire tries to advance but the firefighting teams manage to contain it and “anchor”.
Regarding the side that faces the municipality of Los Realejos, in the Tigaiga area, Julio Pérez pointed out that it is where “we have not managed to tie, but maybe tomorrow we will.” According to the counselor, this is the area where “we have had the most problems”, since it is “practically a vertical wall” and where “it is more difficult to work by land and air”.
In any case, he admitted that the progress made today suggests that there will be some “more significant” progress tomorrow, although it is not yet possible to eliminate the protection measures that have been taken these days, so They will maintain the evacuation of almost 600 people from different neighborhoods, the closure of two highways – the one that goes through Icod el Alto and the one that goes up from La Orotava to Boca Tauce – and the prohibition of access to forest areas and recreational areas.
Julio Pérez reported that the evacuees, in some cases, have been able to return to their homes accompanied by police patrols to collect personal effects and the protection device for domestic animals has also worked correctly, relocating 37 dogs, 8 cats, 114 goats 11 mules and 8 horses.
Regarding the operation, he indicated that today all aerial means have worked, that yesterday they discharged 817,776 liters of water and today more than a million. However, the counselor stressed that the extinction teams warn that simultaneity is sometimes not only not possible, but also useless, so the maximum number of helicopters that have operated at the same time has been seven. In addition, he stressed that on vertical walls the sudden fall of water produces an impact that can be counterproductive because it causes pieces of fire to fall to lower levels.
He also added that tonight 130 people will continue to work on the extinction work, especially in the Tigaiga area.
Tomorrow, Monday, there will be a stable atmospheric situation, but the humidity will gradually reduce and will return to values below 30%. As for the wind, between 12:00 and 18:00 gusts of 30 km/h may be reached and maximums around 28-33 degrees will be reached, an unfavorable weather situation for the evolution of the fire.
