The confinement of the urban area of La Esperanza, in El Rosario (Tenerife), seeks to make the work “effective” before the embers in the area
The number of people evacuated and confined by the Arafo fire (Tenerife) rises to more than 7,600
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Aug. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The forest fire that started on the night of August 15 on Mount Arafo, on the island of Tenerife, affects more than 2,600 hectares in various municipalities –Arafo, Candelaria, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, La Oratova and El Rosario– in a perimeter that reaches 32 kilometers and that has caused the evacuation, as well as the confinement of more than 7,600 people in the last 34 hours.
These are the figures that have been released at the press conference this Thursday on the evolution of the fire, which according to the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, is “probably” one of the “most serious” in the last 40 years. .
Clavijo has admitted that the work that is being carried out is with “much difficulty but effective”, since another of the characteristics that he has cited of this fire is that it is generating “own” weather circumstances, which means that the forecasts that they are adopted to act “are not successful”.
For this reason, he stated that the extinction work on Thursday “will be essential” because from Saturday the weather is expected to be complicated by a rise in temperatures.
In relation to this, the meteorologist Vicky Palma has recognized that this fire had “never” been seen until now, since it has been “34 hours of convection -propagation of heat or other physical magnitude in a fluid medium due to differences in density- “, reaching the flames at some moments to reach the “six kilometers of altitude”, causing this the jump of embers -parts that the fire burns in its path and that jumps with fire to end up turning into ash–.
Thus, he qualified, that the current weather conditions are “similar” to those of yesterday, so they can continue “generating problems as in the last hours”, since a situation is occurring that “had not been seen in the archipelago in recent years”.
In relation to the fire, he pointed out that the clouds that are seen this Thursday in La Laguna or Santa Cruz de Tenerife are from the smoke of the fire because with the general wind the column “only leans towards the east when it is very high.”
“VERY COMPLICATED” NIGHT
For his part, the technical manager of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, began his speech by admitting that the night has been “very complicated” because “none” of the planned performances in the main models have gone ahead.
In any case, he wanted to expose as a positive part that the southeast area of the fire, towards the hamlets above Arafo and Candelaria, “have not evolved”, so “no” has been affected these hamlets; while in the area of the ridge to Las Lagunetas “no” there have been propagations and between Las Lagunetas the work has been of protection.
However, he regretted that they were going to try to close it with controlled burning once the fire had exceeded the Igueste valley, but “it was not” possible because there were jumps of paveseo, focusing the fire towards Barranco Hondo, in El Rosario, reaching around from 6:00 a.m. to the Las Raíces power line, so priority has been given to preventing the fire from reaching the municipality of El Rosario.
As for the western zone, he stresses that due to “inaccessibility, action could not be taken”, stating that it is a part where the fire “advances”, although it “does not” have fuel, and the objective here “is to lock it up where it is”. .
In any case, he stressed that the fire is generating “quite a lot of paving, skipping the aligned areas”, so that this paving capacity, which “was not foreseen”, what it does “is raise all the material released by the fire, with burning particles and places it at a distance behind the workers.
CONFINE FOR AN “EFFICIENT” WORK
Pedro Martín pointed out that what is happening in the area of La Esperanza, in the municipality of El Rosario, is a paveseo that launches burning particles, “that is why the confinement has been decided” in the urban area.
The objective of this confinement, he explained, is that work will be carried out in which the troops and means need “complete viability” to move and that the work be “effective”.
In this way, he justifies this confinement that he hopes “is temporary” but stresses that the purpose is that the work allows “turning off as quickly as possible the points” that can be ignited before the launch of sparks.
MORE THAN 7,600 PEOPLE EVACUATED AND CONFINED
The forest fire has already caused more than 7,600 people to be evacuated or confined, after the confinement of the urban area of La Esperanza for safety reasons was decided early this Thursday –including the prison and the migrant center in the zone–.
It has also been decided to evacuate the upper part of the Hondo ravine, Las Rosas, Los Apaches-Camino La Huerta, in addition to the Las Barreras neighborhood, Vista La Huerta street, Preventorio street to Escuela Hogar (TF-274). , as well as the Los Panascos Bajos road to Juan Antonio Díaz street, as well as Doctor Caldera street to the General Highway TF-24, all in the municipality of El Rosario
As for the municipality of La Orotava, the latest evacuations affect La Resbala and Pinolere, after the eviction took place from the descent of the Teide Restaurant drinking trough to La Florida.
For the evicted people in El Rosario, the municipal pavilion of El Chorrillo-San Isidro has been set up as a shelter, and for those affected in La Orotava, the municipal pavilion of Quiquirá has been established as a meeting point and shelter. Both centers have the capacity to accommodate pets.
REINFORCEMENT
For her part, the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, pointed out that there has been an increase in resources, both air and ground, with the aim of creating firewalls so that it does not advance towards La Orotava.
Thus, a reinforcement of troops from the Military Emergency Unit (UME) has been requested, which will arrive on the island this Thursday afternoon.
Specifically, and as reported by the Ministry of Defense, 92 UME soldiers will leave their base in Morón (Seville) at 1:30 p.m. aboard an Air Force A400M, bound for Tenerife to reinforce the team that is deployed on the island. With them, there are 202 soldiers from BIEM II who will be deployed to put out this fire.
For her part, the head of the Civil Protection and Emergency Attention Service of the Government of the Canary Islands, Montse Román, has indicated that there are 17 active air means -one for coordination- to fight the fire, including three seaplanes that are operating.
Likewise, 350 troops are acting between intervention, security and logistics, of which 250 may be working by land as of this Thursday afternoon thanks to the reinforcement of the UME.
