SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Aug. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The acting President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has advanced this Monday that when the fire that affects the island of Tenerife is considered controlled, the Council of Ministers will declare it a catastrophic area.
Sánchez made this announcement after a visit to a part of the area affected by the fire that began on the night of August 15 in the Arafo mountains and which currently affects some 12 municipalities, where it has already devastated more than 13,000 hectares. in a perimeter of almost 90 kilometers.
“As soon as the fire is overcome, in short, when it is considered controlled, the Council of Ministers, of course, will approve the declaration of an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency, what everyone colloquially knows as a declaration of a catastrophic zone”, he said in statements to journalists at the Advanced Command Post.
Sánchez also wanted to highlight that the presence of the Government of Spain in the extinction work that is being carried out on this fire “has been absolute” from the beginning with the presence of the delegate in the Canary Islands, as well as ministers and his own.
He added that what is wanted is that this personal presence “be the testimony of that commitment not only of the Government but also of the whole of the Spanish citizenry” because, he stressed, “all of Spain is with the Canary Islands and with Tenerife”, pointing out that it is “now” and “will be” in the work of reconstruction, recovery and stabilization of the affected citizens on the island.
The next few hours, he admitted, are going to be “very important” to consider the fire stabilized in the coming days, for which he hopes the weather will help.
The acting president of Spain also wanted to highlight the importance of the nature of the public civil protection service in Spain, an issue that he stressed must be “recognised and supported” after seeing “devastating fires, with people dead” in other areas of the world. , which “fortunately in Tenerife has not happened” and he hopes it will not happen in the coming days.
In this sense, he had an impact on the cooperation and collaboration that has taken place between all the administrations, as well as on the “exemplary” behavior of citizens.
Sánchez also thanked the work of the media at times like the present where “reliable, truthful information is even more important” about what is happening and trying to “avoid any hoax”, recognition that the president has also made of the Council of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila.
Dávila has taken advantage of Sánchez’s presence on the island to thank him for the “maximum coordination and all the means used” to extinguish a fire that was at the interface between the mountains and houses, and that although it is currently still active, the forecasts are ” favourable”.
Finally, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has highlighted that the “difficulty” faced by the firefighting personnel has allowed “fortunately not” to have to regret personal or material damage “beyond rooms of implements”, thus showing his “admiration and gratitude to all” those who are working on the front line of fire, as well as in organization or logistics.
Clavijo concluded by thanking the Government of Spain for its attention and support, pointing out that it is in “moments of this difficulty where institutions and citizens give their best”.
