The fire is stabilized nine days later

Fernando Clavijo, president of the Government of the Canary Islands, was hopeful of “giving the final blow” this week to a fire that remains at level 2 and under the management of the Government of the Canary Islands. He announced that there will be reactivations, “but we have the means to act” since, although the de-escalation of resources begins, it remains active.

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In fact, during the night there were 115 troops working to extinguish the fire and today 195 will do so in the intervention team, to which are added 15 air resources and one more coordination (one less than yesterday). Among them are three seaplanes (two less than yesterday) and the Kamov, according to data provided by Montse Román, the technical head of Civil Protection of the Government of the Canary Islands.

by the south

Prudence and collaboration were the terms that Clavijo conveyed to the public, taking into account that the Cabildo opens the road to the Teide National Park from the south to traffic, which facilitates access to the Parador Nacional and the Cable Car. In contrast, the TF-24 (La Esperanza-El Rosario), the TF-21 (La Orotava) and the TF-523 (Carretera de Los Loros) remain closed.

Another positive piece of information left by the ninth day of the fire was the improvement in air quality. The municipalities of La Orotava and Los Realejos are the ones with the most unfavorable level, while Arafo and Candelaria show a notable improvement. The population is recommended to continue using the FPP2 mask and closing windows. In the remaining eight that complete the dozen affected (Fasnia, Güímar, El Rosario, Tacoronte, El Sauzal, La Matanza de Acentejo, La Victoria de Acentejo and Santa Úrsula) the situation is back to normal.

risk remains

“The 12 municipalities are still at level 3 of fire risk,” specified the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Rosa Dávila. The rest are at level 2. “This fire will be studied for a long time,” she declared before announcing the beginning of the easing of the measures in force since Wednesday of last week. She warned that the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) maintains the yellow alert for high temperatures (up to 34 degrees are expected today in the area affected by the fire) and stressed that the population should avoid climbing the mountain and transit through areas that could hinder the action of the extinction operation.

Pedro Martínez, technical head of Forest Risk of the Cabildo, highlighted the importance of the green forest in the extinction task, which “can take a long time”, even months, and announced that they are beginning to “soften the staff shifts”, whose lack of rest (even fulfilling the established legal period, the adrenaline made it impossible in many cases) pointed out as the cause of three accidents “without consequences”.

Guimar

Late yesterday, the Güimarero mayor, Gustavo Pérez, reported that “they confirm that the little that is burning right now is located above what has already been burned.” That is, in Las Dehesas, Los Pelados and Anocheza. The councilor indicated that “they are small areas that did not burn and that, at certain times, catch fire within the burned plots themselves. This may be a tonic in the coming days and we will maintain surveillance services.

Yesterday the tasks of extinction of the forest fire in Tenerife focused on finishing off the areas of La Hornaca and Montaña El Cerro, in Tacoronte, where there are houses very close to the line of fire; Mal Abrigo, in Güímar, where the fire was resisting in an abrupt area, and in Barranco Hondo, in Candelaria, a strip in which significant previous reactivations occurred. Likewise, the terrestrial device concentrated its efforts on attacking the numerous hot spots that remained in the rest of the affected area.

On freedom

The 80-year-old man, a resident of Güímar and who was arrested for throwing a stone at a Tenerife firefighting service helicopter and rendering it inoperative, testified before Güímar Court of First Instance and Instruction Number 1 that ordered his commissioning released, sources from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) report.

The octogenarian has the obligation to appear before the court when required and is under investigation for an alleged crime against air safety.

He was detained by the Civil Guard after throwing a stone at a helicopter from the Forestry Brigade of the Cabildo de Tenerife when it was preparing to load water into a tank he owned and as part of the work to extinguish the fire that is still active on the island. The stone struck a blade of the aircraft’s main rotor in such a way that the pilot decided to leave the area for safety reasons and go to Los Rodeos Airport (North Tenerife) to assess the damage caused.

He slipped into the exclusion area

Civil Guard agents belonging to the Citizen Security Unit (Usecic) of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Command detained a 48-year-old man, a native of Tacoronte, when he was surprised while wandering through the exclusion zone of the forest fire in the Aguagarcia neighborhood.

The man tried to flee from the agents when he was located and had a search and arrest warrant for a robbery in a house issued by the Investigating Court Number two of La Laguna.

Pollution

The estimated CO2 emissions from the Tenerife fire have been the highest recorded for the month of August in the last two decades, according to data from the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). Thus, the Global Fire Data Assimilation System (GFAS) has published the total daily values ​​of fire radioactive power (FRP) and the estimated emissions for the Canary Islands between August 16 and 20. Total estimated carbon emissions for the Canary Islands in August (with data up to the 22nd) have been 0.3 megatonnes of carbon, which is why they become the highest values ​​for any month of August in the last two decades.

Conditions

The authorities reported last night that the work to repair the Aguamansa canal is being completed and that there is a small electrical condition that affects second homes.

aids

Fernando Clavijo explained that “the mountain has been sacrificed for the safety of people” and advanced that work will begin shortly to quantify the environmental and economic damage. The declaration of a catastrophic area will help determine the aid and some tax exemptions for those affected, but all this “must be accompanied by budget items” to guarantee environmental regeneration.

Thanks

The President of the Canary Islands assured that the population behaved “exemplary”, thanked the solidarity of all the Islands and the Government of Spain as well as the work of all the members of the device, especially “Tito and Montse”, to whom he gave “Thank you for showing your face, you have gone beyond your responsibility.”