Bad weather fuels the flames, which have already burned more than 2,000 hectares of forest crown mount | The rise in temperatures today worries the operative
The strong gusts of crosswind on Friday night and Saturday morning, together with the heat, turned Saturday day in hell for firefighting teams, especially on the slopes of Tigaiga, in Los Realejos. As a result of this adverse weather, the surface fire that has been raging since Thursday in the Corona Forestal of northern Tenerife was still active for the third day and threatening, with large columns of smoke on multiple fronts that only the haze dissipates.
The balance provided last night by the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, is 2,156 hectares of pine forest burnedin a level 2 forest fire – the management corresponds to the regional Executive – with a perimeter of 20 kilometers. The calls affect five northern municipalities: Los Realejos, where it originated, with 537.4 hectares; La Guancha, which has the most affected area with 791.2 hectares; San Juan de la Rambla, with 722 hectares; Icod de Los Vinos, with 114.9; and La Orotavato which the fire has not reached but some 30 houses have had to be evacuated due to its proximity. More than 250 people, counting on the security forces and health support personnel, and 12 air assets – 11 helicopters and a seaplane – are fighting the flames, which continue to spread uncontrollably towards the top and the coast. This morning another seaplane from the Air Force will be added.
585 evacuees
The proximity of the flames and extinction operations – such as backfires – forced the evacuation of more than 400 people yesterday. Some 100 homes were evicted as a precaution in Las Arenitas, Cruz del Castaño and Chanajiga, in the Las Llanadas area, near Tigaiga, in Los Realejos. A meeting point was set up in the sports center of this town, where yesterday afternoon the Red Cross emergency teams attended to the few who had come to this place. In addition, 30 homes were evicted on Orégano street in the Benijos neighborhood, in La Orotava, as indicated by the extinction operation, which carried out a backfire to try to prevent the flames from crossing the area during the night. To these 400 people are added the more than 100 who had already left their homes on Friday: the young people camped in El Lagar and the residents of some scattered houses in El Andén and Los Chavocos, between Los Realejos and San Juan de la Rambla.
According to data provided by the Canarian president, there are a total of 585 people. “The vast majority are in the houses of relatives and friends,” explained Ángel Víctor Torres, who stressed that so far no affected house has been counted. “That is our priority right now: to defend the areas closest to populated areas,” Torres said. Those responsible for the operation pointed out that the critical area today will once again be the slope of Tigaiga, as it has a lot of vegetable fuel and an orography that makes the work enormously difficult.
In the heart of the Forest Crown
The fire affects an area of great natural value in Tenerife: the Corona Forestal, in which the pine forest predominates but there are also redoubts of laurel forest. It is the largest natural park in the Canary Islands, with a total area of 46,600 hectares, a mountain that acts as a green protector around the Teide National Park. It extends from 300 meters above sea level to 2,718 meters at Alto de Guajara. The calls extend on multiple flanks, towards the summit and the coast, through the Northern Forest Crown, between the municipalities of Icod, La Guancha, San Juan de la Rambla and Los Realejos. The calls entered the pine forests that are within the Teide National Park on Friday, but “they have not spread much” because “that particular area does not have much plant density,” Pedro Martín, president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, clarified yesterday, who pointed out that there are alert teams on Teide, “although the priority is inhabited areas”.
Los Campeches again
The mountain of Los Campeches, in the heights of the Tenerife municipality of Los Realejos, where the fire originated on Thursday, is the point of Tenerife with the most attempts per year: an average of 15. It is the hot zone each season of the fire campaign and behind many of them is the suspicion of premeditated human action. Among the last great fires that have broken out in the mountains of Los Campeches is that of September 1983, which devastated the forest mass between Los Realejos and Garachico. It forced the deployment of all the human and material resources of the Island and lasted five days.
On July 30, 2007, another large fire started in this area. It is the largest that has been recorded in Tenerife by extension affected. The calls expand across three fronts from Los Realejos to San Juan de la Rambla amid the worst possible conditions of humidity, temperature and wind. In little more than twelve hours it spread to Santiago del Teide, affecting La Guacha, Icod de los Vinos, Garachico and Buenavista del Norte (Masca hamlet), whose consequences and damage are still visible. The burned area was 15,000 hectares. Some of the flames from the current fire pass over areas burned in that 2007 tragedy.
time against
Time has played against the operation that fights the fire in the north of Tenerife, especially Friday night and yesterday morning. Strong crosswind gusts changed everything. The operation of the fire anticipated that the wind would blow towards the coast. However, the most dangerous crosswinds arose, which spread the fire towards the summit, the coast and the Valley of La Orotava. Added to this was the heat, with maximum temperatures above 30 degrees. The haze also made an appearance, which increased the feeling of suffocation. Yesterday afternoon, however, the conditions improved: the wind gusts did not exceed 15 kilometers per hour and the humidity reached over 50%.
The problem is that the forecasts for tomorrow are worse. The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife detailed in Los Realejos that “a little more heat is expected”. “The key,” he made clear, “is going to be in the wind.” “We have to wait and see what’s going to happen. The crosswinds have done a lot of damage.” Those responsible for the operation clarified that there will be more heat but strong winds are not expected.
seaplanes arrive
Yesterday at 3:15 p.m., the seaplane of the 43 Group of the Air Forces, based at the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base (Madrid), which joined the fight against the fire. He refueled at sea, in places like Las Teresitas beach or El Puerto, in Santa Cruz, and it took about 35 minutes between one pass and another. Another Group 43 seaplane was heading to Tenerife yesterday to join the operation this morning. In total there are 13 aerial means, the two planes and the 11 emergency helicopters.
San Juan de la Rambla asks to be a catastrophic zone
The Government Group of San Juan de la Rambla (PSOE-AIS-CC) requested, through an institutional statement, the declaration of the municipality as a catastrophic zone – the new denomination is the area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency – by the high environmental, cultural, historical and service damage that the fire is already causing. “After initially evaluating the scope of the catastrophe that has focused on our municipality, we appear to reiterate our sadness and concern for the deep damage that this fire produces in especially fragile and vulnerable areas of our geography,” says the ramblero government led by Ezequiel Dominguez (PSOE).
closed roads
As a precautionary measure, the Cabildo de Tenerife closed two roads: the TF-21 from La Orotava to the Teide National Park, specifically from kilometer 16 to 32; as well as the TF-344, between Icod el Alto and La Guancha.