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SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 25. (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, has continued to be contained today and it has not been able to overcome the perimeter established by the firefighting teams, so its decline is consolidating and the affected area remains around 2,700 hectares, with a perimeter of 27 kilometers.
This has been reported by the Minister of Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, who has appeared at a press conference together with the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, and the head of the Civil Protection service, Montserrat Román , after the technical coordination meeting of the means of extinction deployed to fight the forest fire.
The counselor explained that the flank of the fire oriented towards the coast -therefore, towards the most populated areas- has spent several days without any movement and has not managed to overflow the perimeter on its east and west flanks. However, in the vicinity of La Fortaleza, at the foot of Mount Teide, there has been a small indentation that has affected an area of between 100 and 200 hectares.
Therefore, according to the counselor, today has been a positive day in the sense that this setback of the fire is consolidating and is expected to continue in the coming days. However, he pointed out that tomorrow, Tuesday, is going to be a particularly difficult day because the weather is going to be worse than today, with higher temperatures throughout the island, and also in the area of the fire, although relatively weak winds are expected, from between 10 and 20 km/h, with somewhat higher punctual gusts. It will be tomorrow afternoon and, above all, Wednesday when the weather changes and temperatures drop.
On the other hand, Julio Pérez pointed out that the prohibitions on access to forest areas and the closure of several highways are maintained, such as the Icod el Alto or the TF-21, which connects La Orotava with Boca Tauce. At the same time, the limits of the areas to be evacuated have been reduced and a small triangle has been left at the foot of the Tigaiga slope, where most of the buildings are temporary and holiday accommodation. So much so that practically all of the people who had been evacuated – just under 600 – have been able to return to their homes. Tomorrow, it will be assessed if the evacuation is lifted in said triangle at the foot of Tigaiga.
For her part, the head of the Civil Protection service, Montserrat Román, reported that tonight there will be 105 ground resources deployed and tomorrow Tuesday around 150 and eleven air resources.
