The level 2 wildfire – under control of the Government of the Canary Islands– declared Tuesday night at 11:36 p.m. near the Chivisaya viewpointin the highlands of Arafo, had burned more than 1,800 hectares of pine forest at the close of this edition and forced the evacuation of 150 people from the scattered hamlets of this municipality in the south of Tenerife and the neighbor of Candelaria. The uncontrolled fire mainly affects these two towns but has also spread to the northern slope, where it has burned a few hectares in Santa Úrsula and La Victoria, and threatens the mountains of La Orotava and El Rosario.
The two main flanks, which emitted the largest appreciable columns of smoke in all of Tenerife, met last night in the San Pedro ravine, in the Arafo heights, and above Igueste, in the Candelaria heights. In total, the different sources are distributed over a perimeter of 22 kilometers. Fernando Clavijo, President of the Canary Islands Government, assured at the press conference in which he took stock of the day that “the scenario is not very positive.” Both Clavijo and Rosa Davilapresident of the Cabildo de Tenerife, and the technicians who intervened in the appearance clarified that the flames advance “without control” through very steep areas, “some inaccessible.”
“The night is going to be key,” said the canarian president, who explained that the main efforts will focus, on the one hand, on defending the dispersed populations closest to the forest crown of the two southern municipalities and, on the other, on preventing the fire from advancing on the north face by the valley of La Orotava and the mountains of El Rosario. In total, 258 professionals and 15 aerial means -14 helicopters and a seaplane that arrived in the afternoon from the Peninsula- are fighting the flames both on the different fronts and at the advanced control post installed at the Andrés Orozco de Arafo school. The first seaplane incorporated into the operation had time to make only seven flights after loading water in the Port of Santa Cruz. From this center it was seen throughout the day yesterday how the great columns of smoke were heading in the direction of Santa Cruz. Today it is expected that another two seaplanes arriving from the Peninsula will join this operation.
Of the 150 evacuees, only four went to the temporary shelters enabled by the emergency, two to the Andrés Orozco de Arafo school and another two to the Punta Larga sports center, in Candelaria. The rest have gone to the homes of relatives and friends or to second homes. Dozens of animals, both pets and livestock, have also been evacuated. There have not been any injuries to regret, nor has any damage to homes or farms been reported.
A large number of bodies and groups work on extinction and support tasks. The fire brigades of the Cabildo de Tenerife have been joined by members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), Fire Brigades of Tenerife, the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES) of the Canary Islands Government, security forces –Civil Guard, local police, Autonomous Police– or Red Cross. To these teams were added those contributed by the councils from other islands such as Gran Canaria, La Gomera or Lanzarote. The Gran Canaria Cabildo posted a message on its social media profiles in which it said: “Tenerife, we are with you.” There are also staff from Gesplan, a public company attached to the Ministry of Policy Territory of the regional Executive. One of the Gesplan members displaced to the checkpoint is Marcelo Padrón. He was in the Gaitero watchtower, in the forest crown, on Tuesday until 7:00 p.m. Four hours later, the compañera who relieved him was the first to evacuate when the fire started. “She couldn’t see the calls because they started in an area out of the tower’s line of sight. We are talking about very steep places, with deep ravines that are very difficult for firefighting teams to attack,” she pointed out.
There is still no pronouncement on the origin of the flames, since efforts are focused on protecting the populations, but the first hypotheses suggest that it could have been caused. The flames originated at several points at the same time near the Los Loros highway and the Chivisaya viewpoint, in Arafo, specifically at the intersection of this road with Orticosa. Very close to this place, an attempt was made just a month ago, which could be controlled by the rapid action of the troops deployed in the mountains of Tenerife.
Juan Ramón Martín, mayor of Arafo, was still yesterday at noon wearing the same clothes he had put on at dawn when he suddenly got out of bed when he received the fire alert. With his sweatpants and a T-shirt soccer, Martín expressed his concern about the multiple fronts of the fire and the rapid spread of the flames despite there being no strong gusts of wind: «There have been times when the flames exceeded 20 meters. The situation is very complex and now we are focused on protecting the population.
In this regard, the Tenerife Federico Grillo, technical director of Emergencies of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and responsible for Fires of this institution, assured: «The extinguishing capacity is lost when the fire has a hungry behavior like the one observed in Arafo and Candelaria. It exceeds human capacity.” He accompanies his comment on social networks with a video taken from a helicopter where you can see how the huge flames head to the north slope of Tenerife.
The mayoress of Candelaria, Mari Brito, was also at the outpost of the Andrés Orozco school, who barely had time to recover from the effort required by the two massive days on Monday and Tuesday for the feast of the Virgin of Candelaria, patron saint of Canary Islands organized by your City Council. “We are following the evolution of the flames second by second since last morning, very attentive in case other residents have to be evacuated to guarantee their safety,” he said. In the afternoon, indeed, it was necessary to evacuate new scattered houses in the highlands of Araya and Igueste.
The Island Corporation and the mobilized municipalities –Arafo, Candelaria, Santa Úrsula, La Victoria, La Orotava, El Rosario and Tacoronte– They closed the accesses to the forest crown for safety, as well as the TF-24 that leads to the Parque Nacional del Teide. Also the highway where the fire originated, Los Loros (TF-523). These measures will be maintained at least throughout the day today, waiting to see how the flames evolve.
The wind, although without strong gusts all day yesterday, pushed the large columns of smoke to the east, in such a way that part of Santa Cruz was covered by these clouds of fire, apart from the most affected municipalities of Arafo and Candelaria. Along the midlands and the coast, including the South highway, as well as large areas of the capital, it was possible to see how ash formed by calcined plant remains fell, which made the fire more spectacular. Even on the surface of the sea, off El Rosario and Candelaria, ash spots appeared.
Much further away, in Garachico, the City Council decided to suspend the pilgrimage of the Fiestas de San Roque as a result of the fire and out of solidarity with the affected localities.
Several moments of the operation against the fire declared in Arafo. Above these lines, a stain of ash from the fire yesterday on the coast of Candelaria.
