Nerea of Ara. The fire that started last Thursday in the municipality of The Realejos It has already reached 2,100 hectares, has forced the eviction of more than 60 houses and has left their owners, those from Las Llanadas, “frightened”.
This is how Xiomara Felipe, a resident of Las Llanadas, explains it (The Realejos) and one of the first people to be evicted this Saturday morning.
“At 11:30 the police knocked on the door telling us that we had to leave… We took the animals, four things and left almost without thinking about it,” he says.
Xiomara lives with her two children, her husband and three pets and has indicated in a statement to Efe that this evacuation was expected “although you never imagine it would happen to you.”
“This morning, early in the morning, some incredible flames began on the hillside, and when the fire reached the second runway, it was frightening,” details the affected person.
The resident of Las Llanadas has stated that all the inhabitants of that area have always lived in fear that a fire would affect the place: “We always say that if the hillside catches fire we will have to run… And that is how it is”.
Although she is grateful for the attention received since she left her home, she has indicated feeling “discomfort and agony” for not knowing what will happen to her because “you close the door of your home, which means everything to you, wondering if you are going to come back or no, and how are you going to find her if you come back”.
María Candelaria Martín, who has been another of the people from Las Llanadas who had to leave her house this Saturday, affirms that they are praying that the fire does not reach the houses “and we believe that it will not arrive… But with this wind it is not known”.
He has highlighted that, although he feels a certain peace of mind because the fire is not near his home, he is scared by the fact that, although there have been other fires in the past, “they have never reached the hillside like now.”
Las Llanadas and the whole island suffer
“It was eight in the morning when we saw that he had entered there, a place where there are a lot of pine needles and dry pineapples, which heat up and roll down dragging the fire”, he commented.
Together with her husband, with whom she shares a house, María Candelaria will use one of the hotel resources that have been set up by the Los Realejos City Council to spend the night, “hopefully this will end soon”.
As reported by the mayor of the realejero municipality, Adolfo González, there are three hotels available to evicted people “who do not have family or friends who can welcome them”: Maritim, Panorámica Garden and Route Active, located in Puerto de la Cruz -the first – and in Los Realejos -the remaining two-.
Likewise, González has remarked that the evacuations that are being carried out in various areas of the five municipalities affected by the emergency – Los Realejos, La Orotava, Icod de los Vinos, La Guancha and San Juan de la Rambla – in addition to being preventive, are “surgical”. ”.
“Entire neighborhoods are not being evicted, but house by house, so we recommend that people wait until the authorities knock on their door,” the president explained.
