SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 20 (EUROPA PRESS)
The work last night of the firefighting teams against the forest fire that began on August 15 in Mount Arafo, on the island of Tenerife, has prevented the fire from burning homes. “And depending on how the night was planned, it’s almost a miracle,” said the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo.
Specifically, he pointed out that there was a fire in a tool room or several vehicles, but that although the fire came close to the houses, it was protected and “we are not talking about a house fire”, beyond some condition.
This was revealed during the press conference at 09:30 to update the information on the evolution of the fire, where it was added that the affected hectares are still 8,400 and the perimeter covers about 70 kilometers throughout ten municipalities – -although there are eleven evacuees-, in the absence of updating the data during the morning of today.
As for the evicted residents, there are some 12,279 people -below the 26,000 that had been estimated this Saturday based on the official census- after the evacuations that took place yesterday in the upper part of the municipalities of La Orotava, La Matanza, La Victoria, El Sauzal, Santa Úrsula and Los Realejos.
“WE WERE STARTED FROM A COMPLEX SITUATION”
The president has placed special emphasis on the fact that the night “has gone much better than we expected”. “We knew that we were starting from a complex situation and that the weather was going to work against us,” he observed.
Here, he explained that the night started “very hard” with calls for fire near the homes, “but in the end all the planned strategies were successful.”
“We decided to withdraw – he explained – to defend the houses and in the end it was a success because there were serious troubles in El Ravelo, Aguamansa and on the northern cornice of Agua García or Santa Úrsula. In the end he allowed us to stay at night, around 2:30 p.m. hours, I could recover some normality”.
In this sense, he announced that, after the reconnaissance flight, the flank that goes from Arafo to the southern area of La Esperanza can be considered stabilized, which is good news since, once the areas are considered stabilized, it will allow study the relocation of the neighbors.
Clavijo pointed out that this Sunday is a busy day to consolidate the different fronts that had to be worked on last night. Today efforts will be focused on the most compromised areas, which are the Valley of La Orotava and the west flank of Cho Marcial, in Güímar.
The most complicated part of the fire is now in the Valley of La Orotava, especially in the area of El Portillo and Mal Abrigo where there is a lot of activity and in the area of Cho Marcial, in Arafo, working mainly with the heaviest media so as not to open as the potential would be greatly amplified if this were to happen.
In addition, today an attempt will be made to consolidate the part that has been opened in Tacoronte, guaranteeing its closure from east to west, and action will be taken in the Santa Úrsula area, towards the Barranco de Las Palomas.
For this, there will be an operation of 610 people, of which 275 are combatants, 115 security, 40 logistics, 20 coordination and 160 volunteers, while 22 aerial means will work by air, two of which are coordination
THE LARGEST DEPLOYMENT OF FIREFIGHTERS IN TENERIFE
For her part, the president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, commented that last night there was the largest deployment in the history of firefighters in Tenerife, with 167 troops who were assigned to defend the homes.
In addition, he pointed out that the Aguamansa Canal is already being repaired, since a crew of firefighters, together with six operations, have accessed the area. “They are working to restore the canal, which is very important for the water supply in Tenerife,” he said.
He also stated that it is not ruled out that some of the evicted people may return this Sunday to their homes in those areas that are stabilized, specifically in the Arafo area.
As for basic services, there is no impact on the electricity supply outside the evacuated areas and the president of the Cabildo announced that it has already been possible to access the Aguamansa water channel, which will allow the repair work to begin.
AIR QUALITY STATUS
Regarding the data extracted from the network of air quality stations, the situation is unfavorable in the municipalities of Los Realejos, El Sauzal, La Matanza de Acentejo, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula, La Orotava, Puerto de la Cruz, Los Realejos , Buenavista del Norte, Los Silos, Garachico, Icod de los Vinos, La Guancha, San Juan de la Rambla, located on the northern slope of the island of Tenerife, and in Arafo, Candelaria, Güímar, Fasnia and Arico, on the south.
For this reason, the population is requested to avoid direct exposure to smoke and put self-protection recommendations into practice, taking special care with the most vulnerable people and minors.
