He forest fire declared in Tenerife on Tuesday night it has already entered the upper area of the municipality of the orotava, with which there are already six municipalities affected by this fire and it has burned 2600 hectares.
During the press conference offered this morning, the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has assured that, probably, “it is the most complex fire of the last 40 years” in the Canary Islands. The fire has already consumed more than 2,600 hectares in a perimeter of 31 kilometers, with a potential that had not been seen in the archipelago and that has forced the confinement of the urban area of the population in El Rosario to be decreed.
Clavijo stated this Thursday after the meeting of the fire monitoring coordination plan that the work to combat the flames is effective, but it is being carried out with difficulty because the meteorological evolution has not been as expected.
Rosa Dávila, president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, has indicated that it has been decided to confine the entire urban area of La Esperanza (El Rosario) and evacuation of the upper part of the Hondo ravine, Las Rosas and Los Apaches-camino la Huerta (El Rosario) and La Resbala (La Orotava). This measure has been taken both to guarantee the safety of people and to clear the paths for firefighting teams.
The President of the Government has assured that 250 ground troops are operating in the area, to which a new contingent from the UME will be added this afternoon.
The fire in Tenerife forces the confinement of the Las Raíces migrant camp
The fire in Tenerife has also forced the confinement of the Las Raíces migrant camp. In the same press conference offered this Thursday, Fernando Clavijo reported at the last press conference on the confinement of the population center of El Rosario due to the unfavorable air quality. The proximity of the reception resource managed by Accem has led the Ministry of Social Services to contact the center “so that they know the confinement recommendations and so that the decisions made can be carried out.” The management of the Tenerife II Penitentiary Center, also located in the municipality of El Rosario, has also been informed.
Sources from the emergency device have reported that evacuations have continued overnight in the municipality of El Rosario and in addition to the Las Barreras neighborhood, the evacuation of El Preventorio street has been ordered from the TF-24 intersection to the area Las Raíces recreational area.
The preventive evacuation of part of the neighborhood of Aguamansa, Pinolere and the upper part of La Florida, in La Orotava, has also been reported, the City Council of that town has reported, insisting that it is a preventive evacuation due to the advance of smoke .
The Quiquirá Pavilion has been enabled for the rehousing of evacuees while the open shelter for evacuees in Arafo has changed its location due to the evolution of the fire and has moved to the San Isidro-El Chorillo sports hall, in El Rosario.
We are currently installing another provisional shelter in the Quiquirá Sports Pavilion, #LaOrotava.
We want to thank our volunteers for their great effort to have these resources with the speed required. Thanks for being there🤗 pic.twitter.com/Ch1K33FqJt
— Red Cross Tenerife (@CruzRojaProvTfe) August 17, 2023
The Santa Cruz Maritime Park closed due to the ash from the fire
The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Maritime Park will remain closed this Thursday. This has been reported by the City Council of the capital as a result of the large amount of ash that has reached the Park since the forest fire declared in the Arafo mountains.
The fire started around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the mountains of Arafo, in the south of Tenerife, and has spread to the municipalities of Candelaria, El Rosario, La Victoria, Santa Úrsula and La Orotava, the latter three in the north of the island.
The affected area amounts today to 2600 hectares. During the night some 200 troops have been working with the objective, among other things, of containing the fire and preventing it from advancing towards populated areas.
The air quality is unfavorable and the Government advises the use of FFP2 masks
The air quality in Tenerife is unfavorable as a result of the forest fire. The Government of the Canary Islands has released a statement warning that the smoke is made up of a mixture of gases and small particles that are emitted by the combustion of vegetation and other materials.
Thus, the population of Güímar, Arafo, Candelaria and El Rosario is recommended to use FFP2 masks outside to avoid respiratory problems and protect their eyes as far as possible. It is also advisable to close doors, windows and, if you have air conditioning, put it in recirculation mode and with clean filters.
It is also advisable to avoid staying outside and carrying out intense or prolonged physical activities. The symptoms of smoke intoxication are coughing, irritation of the eyes, nose or throat, difficulty breathing deeply, rapid heartbeat, fatigue or chest discomfort.
The population considered sensitive and the risk groups are people with previous respiratory or cardiac diseases, such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema; children, pregnant women and the elderly and people who perform intense physical activity.
More than 100 soldiers and 34 media from the UME work in extinction work
A total of 109 soldiers and 34 members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) have participated since Thursday in the tasks of extinction of the forest fire that began in the mountains of the municipality of Arafo.
The UME soldiers deployed on the island of Tenerife have been working during the early hours of this Thursday in the northeast area of the forest fire. The work is being focused, by the troops of the UME, on carrying out tasks of direct attack on the flames with autobombs, as well as monitoring the front of the fire through the flight of drones.
The mayoress of Candelaria asks the population for caution because the town is “covered in ashes”
For her part, the mayoress of Candelaria, María Concepción Brito, has asked the population to take precautions to go out into the street, since the town is “covered with ashes, with remains of burned pine, of Canarian pine that is all over that area, which is what is really burning”.
For this reason, Brito has urged citizens to go out “as little as possible”, since he has indicated that the health services of the municipality have had to attend to people, especially the elderly, with “some respiratory problem, also with any eye irritation.
In any case, he qualified that “there have not been too many interventions” but those who have needed it have been attended to.
The fire “has not gone down to the populated area” of Candelaria
The mayoress of Candelaria wanted to value the work being done by the entire team that is fighting this fire because “they are literally risking their lives because of the intensity and virulence” of this fire, she says, which “does not” remind her in your municipality.
Currently, with regard to Candelaria, he pointed out that the night has passed “more or less calm”, since he affirmed that in the case of this municipality the “difficulty” occurred at the time the fire was generated –at night on August 15– because it was practically “unable to work” and hours were dedicated to the “design” of the entire strategy to act at dawn, which was when it was possible to act with land and air means.
Brito has stressed that the “intensity of the flames has been extraordinary”, stating that it was “almost impossible to access” even with aerial means in some areas because it was “impracticable”. In any case, he has pointed out that the night, with the “drop in temperatures, was something very favorable”, to which he added that the wind also “maintained a slight breeze”.
He also qualified that in the case of Candelaria the fire “has not gone down to the populated area”, for which he pointed out that “it is good news” given all that is happening and for which he had words of gratitude for all those who in some way or another they are collaborating in this situation.
Currently, the preventive evictions that affect Candelaria are focused on three main nuclei, such as Las Medianías, in the town of Igueste, in Araya and in the area of Las Cuevecitas. He explained that these evictions were made due to the risk that the fire would continue advancing towards that area.
