He Arafo-Candelaria forest firewhich began in the mountains of those two municipalities in the southeast of Tenerife on the night of August 15, 2023, is, without a doubt, the worst thing that has happened to the nature of this island in recent times.
Many of the Tenerife residents who look back today will not remember a similar event, of that magnitude and with that volume of destruction, with so many days with active fire, with numerous evacuations of people and domestic animals, and with very serious effects on the forest, the pine forest, the monteverde, the summit vegetation and the agricultural landscape of the upper midlands of the north of Tenerife, plus what happened to the wildlife and infrastructure and services.
Just over three months after the start of this environmental catastrophe (the most serious forest fire in Spain so far in 2023), Canary Islands Nowjust this Sunday, November 26, took a tour of some of the most damaged natural areas and in it he discovered the tremendous impact of black, soot and plant and landscape death that the fire has left in the former beauty of the Forest Crown, the La Orotava Valley and its mountains, or in areas of the northern slope of the Teide National Park and in the agricultural midlands.
Only 16 days after the fire was declared extinguished by the Cabildo of Tenerife (last November 10), the public administration responsible for the care of all these natural spaces, the balance is still very negative: around 6% of the island of Tenerife affected by fire, with different intensities of destruction; a perimeter with damage inside of 90 kilometers; almost 15,000 hectares devastated by the fire, affecting a dozen protected natural spaces and some 40 species of birds, and the evacuation at some point with the active fire of 13,000 people in different areas of the 12 municipalities where there was a fire.
In this gallery of photos, all captured last Sunday, November 26, the wounds of a tremendous catastrophe are shown, some natural destruction that has changed the usual landscape from La Esperanza to Portillo (Teide), on a journey along the highway of the dorsal, within the Teide National Park and in the fall towards the mountains of the La Orotava Valley, in the municipalities of La Orotava and Los Realejos.
The recovery will be slow, it will take years and perhaps for some generations those affected areas will no longer see them as they were before, in their previous climax state. Here is a review of images of so much destruction to nature.
