El Rosario is trying to prevent the nightmare experienced in 2023, when the fire was very close to various population centers, from happening again. That’s why the City Council is implementing measures in the so-called interface zone, firefighter-goats,
“Since the major forest fire in the summer of 2023, we haven’t stopped looking for solutions and formulas to ensure that houses in interface zones had the greatest protection, and I committed, at the scene of the fire, to advance initiatives that would enhance people’s safety,” says the mayor of El Rosario, Escolástico Gil, who has witnessed firsthand on several occasions how the flames approached inhabited areas.
Streamlining Processes
The leader of Iniciativa por El Rosario-Verdes highlights that from that commitment emerged the municipal ordinance for the cleaning of plots, which streamlines the necessary procedures for owners to carry out maintenance work on their lands, and the Municipal Plan against Forest Fire Risk, drafted by the Disaster Risk Reduction Chair of the ULL.
That willingness to find solutions to the problem was also the seed of the ‘firefighter-goats’ grazing project, which has been clearing bushes in areas like Peñafiel, El Poleo, or La Montañeta for almost two years now. This action has been complemented by a line of subsidies to help goat and sheep herders maintain their activities, according to the City Council.
Montaña Carbonero
One of the most recent actions is that of Finca Montaña Carbonero, where weeds, grasses, and brambles have been removed from plots distributed in terraces or benches. The El Rosario City Hall emphasizes that this work “minimizes the possibility of endangering the safety of people, animals, or individual assets in case of a forest fire.” These efforts add to those developed months ago on plots located on Preventorio Street.
The City Council also notes that this formula of natural preparation against the effects of fire is a consequence of the municipal initiative for goat and sheep herders in the upper part of the municipality, specifically from La Esperanza and Las Barreras, to enhance grazing activities in interface zones and ravines, as well as in private estates where owners give permission for their animals to enter, as a way to maintain rural centers located near the forest and prevent the gravest consequences of a potential fire in inhabited areas.
Municipal Action Plan
The City Hall reminds that it is the first in Tenerife to specifically develop a Municipal Action Plan against Forest Fire Risk, prepared by the Disaster Risk Reduction Chair. Resilient Cities, from the University of La Laguna (ULL), now approved by the General Directorate of Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands.
Subscribe to continue reading
