Relief throughout the Canary Islands and in Tenerife in particular after declaring as stabilized a forest fire declared early yesterday afternoon in the Camino de Guillén area, specifically in the neighborhood of El Ortigal, within the municipality of La Laguna and next to the border of El Rosario, as sources confirmed last night of Council of Tenerife, which at all times has directed the operations to extinguish these flames given that the fire did not exceed level 1 despite its manifest danger, taking into account the strategic point where these flames broke out, visible from points as scattered as the Izaña Meteorological Observatory, in Las Cañadas del Teide, and which logically alarmed not a few residents of the Tenerife metropolitan area. There were firefighting resources from La Gomera. In this regard, it must be remembered that levels 2 and 3 are declared when the fire entails serious danger for the population and goods other than those of a forest nature, so that the Military Emergency Unit can even participate in level 3, which, as it is It is known that it has bases in the Islands and whose intervention has been celebrated on more than one occasion in the Islands for the contribution it entails.
Specifically, and always according to the aforementioned sources of the Island Council, the fire affected approximately an area of about 20 hectares of vegetation made up of brambles, ferns, heather and lard.
The best part of the news is that the people who had been preventively evicted from their homes, an estimated 25, were able to return to their homes last night, located in the Las Erillas and Juan Fernández payments, both in the municipal area. of El Rosario, the same ones that had to be abandoned as a precaution against the possible advance of the fire in the mid-afternoon hours.
The events that concern us began in the early hours of that afternoon, when the ensuing column of smoke not only warned the neighbors about what was happening, but also immediately activated the resources against the fire existing on the Island and connected to the island networks available to the Archipelago for this type of contingency.
Despite what one might think, given that the Insular Operational Coordination Center (Cecopin) had just reported on the end of the warning due to the risk of forest fires on the Island, this does not even remotely imply a lack of protection in this sense, since the media are warned in pre-alert, in such a way that its reactivation occurs immediately, as has happened on this occasion.
Thus, teams from the Tenerife Forestry Brigades, six aerial means, Tenerife Firefighters, Local Police and the General Corps of the National Police have participated in the extinction work, as detailed yesterday by official sources such as the Island Council and the Coordinating Center of Emergencies and Security (Cecoes) 1-1-2 of the Government of the Canary Islands.
In addition to the aforementioned evacuation of families, it was also necessary to close the TF-226 highway (popularly known as Calle del Sol), at the height of the telecommunications antennas located in the area.
It should also be noted that the mayors of El Rosario, Escolástico Gil, and of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, appeared at the scene in order to have first-hand information about the extinction operation and the evolution of the fire.
In this regard, the Lagunero councilor even sent a message through social networks requesting that people not approach the area of the fire, as well as keeping them informed through official sources. In summary, and despite the seriousness of the events, Tenerife once again dodged the possibility of suffering a new forest fire of important dimensions thanks to the prompt response of the emergency services.
