The fire in Tenerife continues uncontrolled, with many aspects and a very dynamic behavior, which is why spaces are being prepared for new evacuations in the next few hours and all access to the Teide National Park will be cut, with the eviction of tourists and IAC facilities .
Follow the last hour of the fire in Tenerife
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The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has informed in a press conference that in some areas of Arafo and Candelaria, where the fire originated last Tuesday, the flames have been reactivated due to the hot spots originated by the embers, and due to the added factor that the weather is not helping.
However, the president has specified that this specific flank of the fire “seems quite stable” and where it continues to advance out of control is on the northern slope.
This has led the management of the firefighting work to agree to close all entrances to the Teide National Park from 6:00 p.m., for which they have contacted the Parador Nacional, the cable car, the Instituto de Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the restaurants of Las Lagunetas.
The objective is that there are no tourists in the area in the afternoon as a precautionary measure against a possible unfavorable evolution of the fire and to facilitate the transit of emergency resources through the area, Fernando Clavijo pointed out, for whom the next few hours ” They will be decisive.”
🚨 New information #IFArafoCandelaria
📢👨🚒 A large extinguishing, security and logistics device intervenes in the Tenerife fire that continues uncontrolled and spreads to the north of the Island.
⛔️ All access to the Teide National Park is closed.#bomberostf pic.twitter.com/NePHaRpVXv— Firefighters of Tenerife (@BomberosTf) August 17, 2023
“The extinction works are unbeatable, but very difficult,” admitted the Canarian president, who does not rule out that new evacuations take place throughout the day and for this reason a new space is being sought to be used as a shelter in La Orotava.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, has indicated that the closure of the TF-21 through Vilaflor and the TF-38 is now added by Chío in Guía de Isora, and there will also be changes in the route of the TITSA buses.
He added that he has contacted the director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo, to inform him of the situation and he has told him that he will order the closure of the astrophysical observatories on Teide.
Rosa Dávila has specified that about a hundred people are using the shelters set up for evacuees because most of those affected relocate with relatives.
In this regard, Dávila has spoken of the “big impact” that the evacuation has had in the field of animals as the fire affects agricultural areas, so that a large number of horses, chickens and goats, sheep and cattle have had to be mobilized. swine to farms of the Cabildo.
The Minister of Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, has also referred to the relocation of people with respiratory problems who remained in a socio-sanitary center in Arafo and, in relation to the Las Raíces immigrant center, has said that they are confined and if it were their eviction is necessary, everything is ready to transfer them to the center of Las Canteras in La Laguna.
The head of Civil Protection, Montserrat Román, has warned that the fire has a “very dynamic” behavior and has specified that 16 air means and cargo planes on the ground are working on the extinction work, and some 230 troops who This afternoon a new detachment of the Military Emergency Unit will join.
He also commented that it is foreseeable that new recommendations will be issued tomorrow due to the worsening of air quality which, in addition to the six municipalities affected by the fire, may be extended to the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and La Laguna.
Likewise, Román has indicated that work is being done in coordination with Red Eléctrica de España and Endesa in case it is necessary to carry out preventive power cuts that, in any case, would be announced in advance.
In this regard, the Endesa company has clarified on its social networks that the fire does not threaten any of the two power plants in Tenerife and that electricity generation is normalized and that up to now there has been no need to cut off the supply to any of the lines of distribution.
However, President Fernando Clavijo has recommended that people residing in the vicinity of the affected areas stock up on flashlights, candles and batteries and, in any case, obtain information through official channels.
