The Cabildo assumes, since yesterday, the management of the fire of Tenerife, which is heading towards its control and extinction. The counselor of Policy Territorial, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the autonomous Executive, Manuel Miranda, announced at noon that the evolution allows updating the risk situation and the reduction of the emergency to Level 1, as established in the Special Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Attention due to Forest Fires in the Autonomous Community of Canary Islands (It informs).
The decision was adopted during the meeting held at noon yesterday, at the proposal of the technical director of the Infoca Plan, after consultations and deliberations by the advisory committee and the management of extinction. From that moment on, the Cabildo de Tenerife assumes the direction of the emergency, the intervention of resources and communication to the population.
The fire continues in the stabilized phase since last Thursday, which means that “it evolves within the established control lines, according to forecasts, and that the extinction work is directed towards its control,” according to the authorities. It should be noted that the forecast weather conditions are favourable, with the arrival of the trade winds and the consequent drop in temperature and increased humidity.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Rosa Davila, explained that this favorable situation made it possible to start, since last weekend, the withdrawal of the State’s land and air resources, among them, the seaplanes of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco), the troops of the Military Unit of Emergencies (UME), as well as the forestry brigades, Brifor. The Advanced Command Post that was in Arafo has also been withdrawn.
Reactivations
Dávila was calm because, as they had anticipated, “there have been reactivations, but all within the perimeter of the fire.” In fact, the work is focused “in the North zone, from Tacoronte to the Valley of La Orotava, especially in the area of La Hornaca (Tacoronte) and Santa Úrsula”, explained Pedro Martínez, technical chief of Forest Risk of the Cabildo. He stressed that these sprouts will continue “because there are burning stumps and fire in the subsoil.”
Forbidden
In the dozen municipalities that were included in the forest fire, the prohibition to travel through their mountains is maintained. Likewise, it is forbidden to access the Parque Nacional del Teide using the highways of La Esperanza, La Orotava and the highway of Los Loros (Arafo). Where it is allowed to reach the Park is from Chío (Guía de Isora) and through Vilaflor, but only to the Cable Car.
evicted
Some twenty residents of the Mirador de La Atalaya continue to be evicted preventively due to a reactivation of the fire in the upper area of Santa Úrsula. Three of the seven affected families are in hotels.
Data
The fire in Tenerife began at 11:36 p.m. on Tuesday, the 15th (main day of the popular festival in honor of the Patron Saint of the Canary Islands, the Virgin of Candelaria), in the vicinity of the TF-523 highway (known as the of Los Loros), in Arafo. During that early morning, due to its size, the Cabildo requested the application of Level 2 severity in application of Infoca, at which time the Government of the Canary Islands assumes the direction of the emergency.
During the dozen days that have elapsed, the affected area amounts to 14,751 hectares distributed in twelve municipalities (La Orotava, Candelaria, Arafo, Santa Úrsula, Los Realejos, Güímar, La Victoria, El Rosario, El Sauzal, Fasnia, Tacoronte and La Matanza). , with a perimeter encrypted around 90 kilometers.
In its latest update, the European Copernicus satellite system has estimated the area burned by the forest fire at 12,273 hectares. They are 1,316 hectares more than those estimated last Friday and make it the worst fire in the Canary Islands of the last 40 years.
22 aircraft have participated in the extinction operation, which until noon yesterday, have made 7,277 discharges, in which 13,103,700 liters of water have been used. It has also had more than 600 ground troops, including intervention teams, security, logistics and volunteers.
When it comes to taking stock, there are more than 13,000 people those that were evacuated during the days that the most intense fight against the fire lasted (from the 15th to the 24th), of which 1,300 made use of the 10 shelters set up by the municipalities. Likewise, 473 animals were welcomed in different centers.
The rosary
The sports halls Leticia Batista, from El Chorrillo, and José Martín Martín, from Lomo Pelado; The Agricultural Market, in La Esperanza, and the field of the San Isidro Infant and Primary Education Center (CEIP) returned to normal yesterday, after having been used for different purposes during the management of the forest fire. PFAE El Rosario Limpio IV staff has carried out cleaning and disinfection work on the facilities so that they can be opened to the public with all the guarantees of health.
Yesterday, likewise, El Rosario recovered the entire supply of drinking water supply, both to the affected citizens of the nuclei of La Esperanza and Llano del Moro and of the Tenerife II penitentiary center. Based on this, during the coordination meeting of the Municipal Emergency Plan (PEMU) it was determined to maintain it, taking into account the risk of forest fire, canceling the risk of failure in critical infrastructures. The mayor of El Rosario, Escolástico Gil, presided over the meeting, which was also attended by the Councilor for Hydraulic Services, Juan Jesús del Rosario, the Local Police and technical personnel from Water.
The councilor reported that, after several days with supply problems caused by the forest fire and aggravated by the deficit in the prison’s hydraulic infrastructure, the water service “is fully guaranteed.” At the same time, he recalled the need for responsible water consumption. The water supply services in the squares of La Esperanza and Llano del Moro and personal hygiene in the Lomo Pelado pavilion are suppressed.
