The forest fire originated in The Palm in the early hours of this Saturday, July 15, begins to threaten the National Park of the Caldera de Taburiente. At this time, the fire has already affected about 2,000 hectares and there is at least a dozen houses affected.
The fire, originating in the municipality of Puntagorda, initially caused the eviction of some 500 people, to which was added, later, the eviction of the population center of Tijarafe, made up of more than 2,500 residentsso at this time we would be talking about thousands of people evacuated to avoid personal injuries caused by the fire.
For the evicted people, the Severo Rodríguez de Los Llanos de Aridane municipal pavilion has been set up, where at the moment some 25 people are cared for by the Red Cross.
In addition, for the first time the system has been used in the Canary Islands ES-Notice alert to the populationwhich is known as inverse 1-1-2, sending a message to all the mobile terminals that are in the area to be evacuated, comprised between the neighborhoods of Timizara, Aguatavar, Zona del Pinar and the urban center of Tijarafe.
National Park
As can be seen in the images circulating at the moment, the fire would already be beginning to threaten the Caldera de taburientone of the most important natural areas of La Palma and of the entire Archipelago.
The National Park has a huge axis of about 8 kilometers in diameter with the appearance of a caldera. Multiple volcanic eruptions, landslides, the erosive force of water and time have shaped its geomorphology, making it one of the most important natural landscapes on the Island. In addition, the Caldera de Taburiente is home to a great diversity of species animals and vegetables.
trail closures
He Town hall of La Palma has proceeded to close the insular network of trailsjust like him access and transit to forest tracks located in areas of high risk of fires and in mountains of public utility, which are reserved for fire surveillance, prevention and extinction services.
Likewise, they have suspended the acts holidaysplayful, sporty or of a similar nature provided for throughout the Island organized by any administration, as well as the use of fire in any agricultural activity.
Intervention
To extinguish the fire, on land some 300 members of the Cabildo de La PalmaBrif of the Ministry, EIRIF of the Government of the Canary IslandsFirefighters of La Palma, Canary Emergency Service (SUC), Canarian Police, Civil GuardLocal Police, Red Cross, Fire Department TenerifeMilitary Emergency Unit (UME) and Land Unit and Advanced Command Post (Drago 01) of the Emergency and Rescue Group of the Government of the Canary Islands, as well as Civil Protection volunteers.
In addition, it is expected that up to ten air vehicles from different administrations will participate: three helicopters and a cargo plane on the ground Air Tractor of the State, three helicopters from the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES) of the Government of the Canary Islands, a helicopter from the Council of Tenerife and another of Gran Canaria and a Civil Guard helicopter in air coordination tasks.
have also been activated two FOCA seaplanes of the Ministrybased on the Peninsula.
The fire is in severity level 2which means that its management is in charge of the Government of the Canary Islands, in application of the Special Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Attention due to Forest Fires in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands (INFOCA).
Animal shelter
In addition to the people evacuated, the animals in the area have also been affected. For this reason, the Association of Abandoned Animals of La Palma (AANIPAL) has requested citizen collaboration to care for the animals. Specifically, they request help from people who have a truck to be able to evacuate the animals that are in the Tirajafe area, and transfer them to Los Llanos.
In addition, two collection points have been set up for evacuated animals:
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Las Canales, for farm animals
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Pavilion next to the courts of the station buses Los Llanos, for pets
