The Tenerife fire continues “out of control” after having already burned 1,800 hectares

“It has been a tough day. The scenario is not positive. Although progress is being slow, we have not managed to get it under control before the end of the day, ”he explained.

During the day, 270 troops have been deployed, including combatants, security and logistics, and 14 air means. For the night, the device will have 258 terrestrial media and will try to focus its efforts on preventing the fire from further advancing. On the other hand, defense operations will be carried out, especially in the southern zone to protect the homes and properties of the two affected municipalities.

During the night and the day of this Thursday the two missing seaplanes will arrive, after having arrived one this Wednesday in Tenerife, so there will be a total of 17 aerial means. The Canarian president explained that they are not all acting at all times because “the crew must be given breaks.” “There are usually between four and five air assets continuously acting,” he points out.

The fire, which since the beginning of the day was raised to level two, has several areas that are very difficult to access where it is not possible to work either by land or air, so it is expected that the fire itself will consume material and then go gradually fading away.

Regarding the weather, there will be two days where the ambient humidity will rise a bit and the temperature will drop, but starting on Sunday a rise in temperatures is expected again. “In these two days we have to work very intensely,” says the Canarian president.

The technical manager Pedro Martín has explained that during the day the efforts have focused on trying to contain the line set on the Los Loros highway, between kilometer 7 and 11, where the fire “has not” exceeded it.

Now an attempt will be made to contain the fire on the El Dorsal highway, to the north, where “there are no reproductions, although it is a very expandable perimeter”, while trying to “cut off all evolution towards the east, towards the municipality of The rosary”.

Regarding the west area of ​​the fire, where the tail is, he qualified that “it is inaccessible”, since it has ravines although with “less fuel”, although he pointed out that “it can occasionally intensify”, but it is a sector in which ” You can’t act.”

Another point is the one that goes from the Orticosa junction to the extreme northwest that advances through the mountains of Santa Úrsula, and that is where “there are media trying to border so that it does not access the lower area.” The technical manager has warned that in this area there could be “specific landslides” in the upper part of the La Orotava valley.

On the other hand, during the night the extinction teams will carry out controlled burns to contain the fire.

Evacuated population centers

Several houses in Igueste de Candelaria and the upper area of ​​Araya, in Tenerife, have been evicted due to the forest fire that started in the municipality of Arafo and has already spread to the bordering areas of La Victoria and Santa Úrsula.

These houses are located on the banks of the La Cuestita road, from the confluence with the La Morrita and Partes Caminos roads, in the case of Igueste de Candelaria and from Cruz del Camino to Los Brezos in Araya, the Government of the Canary Islands has reported. on their social networks.

This evacuation is in addition to the one already carried out in the population centers of Arrate, Chivisaya, Media Montaña and Ajafona and those carried out in several houses above kilometer 3 of the TF-523, as well as a dozen houses in Las Lagunetas.

A shelter has been set up for these displaced persons at the Andrés Orozco School in Arafo, although most of the people have relocated to relatives’ homes.

The TF-24 highway (between Las Lagunetas and El Portillo) and TF-523, the Los Loros highway, have also been closed. The Candelaria City Council has set up the Punta Larga pavilion as a hostel.