The smoke is thick, so much so that many of the witnesses admit that it seems “taken from a movie”, but the situation is real. And worrying. The Local Police of Santa Cruz de Tenerife cordon off the area. Meanwhile, the fire in El Sobradillo is already a topic of conversation for many residents of the capital. “Smoke is toxic” they repeat. The smell of burning plastic is very strong.
It all started at 8:30 p.m. On Los Majuelos avenue, in El Sobradillo, several neighbors have raised the alarm: smoke is coming out of a sewer. With the policemen and several endowments of Tenerife firefighters in the area, the area is cordoned off and transit is prohibited. It is best to stay at home.
For this reason, the Local Police, through its official Twitter account, warns the population of the need to close doors and windows, to get away from the area and not pry, although the photographs and videos are already circulating from mobile to mobile.
Where does the smoke from the fire in El Sobradillo come from?
The big question is what is the origin of that smoke whose column can be seen from various parts of the city and which no longer only affects the El Sobradillo area, but also reaches El Draguillo, Barranco Grande, La Gallega and even añaza.
The work of the firefighters and the Local Police pays off. After 10:00 p.m., the situation began to be controlled and people began to talk about the origin of the fire.
The fire originated in the upper part of Barranco Grande, where the rainwater collection system is located, at the intersection of El Sobradillo, the place known as the Manocar roundabout.
The fire started in the coupling of a plastic pipe in that rainwater collection system.
“It is the tube of a work that was done in 2015 to be able to collect part of the rainwater from the El Sobradillo road. They can be about 500 meters long, with several grids for rainwater to enter. There a fire broke out, at the mouth that goes towards the ravine and, either the fire enters the collector and starts to burn or it causes the fire inside the tube itself, the smoke coming out of the road”, explains Javier Rivero. , councilor of the Santa Cruz City Council.
Assess the damage
Before 11:00 p.m., the situation is under control, although some traffic restrictions are maintained in part of Los Majuelos avenue in the direction of Muñeco de Nieve, an area that has been fenced off because part of the land has ceded in the area of the ravine.
This same morning, EMMASA employees check the collector. One of the sections, the first, has been completely burned, which is why the traffic cut could be extended in the next few hours.
Touch now that the technicians determine whether or not it was provoked. Yesterday the clear suspicion is that it could have been provoked, hence the virulence of the fire, although it will be necessary to decide if the flames originated from a nearby electrical installation.
