More than 3,800 people had been evacuated late yesterday and 4,000 more confined to their homes as a result of the fire that broke out on Tuesday night in Arafo, in Tenerife, which has already affected six municipalities on the Canary Island and it extends without control towards the north over a perimeter of 32 kilometers. In addition to Arafo, Candelaria, El Rosario, La Victoria de Acentejo, Santa Úrsula and La Orotava are threatened, both in the north and south of the island.
The president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, acknowledged yesterday that this fire, which is advancing on different fronts out of control, is the worst that the island has suffered in the last forty years. As he pointed out, the ashes, the slopes and the pine cones that fall, roll and generate new outbreaks force us to rethink the strategy to stop the fire at all times.
The 17 terrestrial aerial means that participate in the extinguishing tasks, as well as nearly 370 personnel, yesterday concentrated their efforts on cooling the residential areas to prevent the fire, which is very virulent, from destroying them. For now it has been achieved and no one is affected. The causes of the fire are not known, but, as it was generated, everything points to the fact that it could have been intentional.
Until yesterday, nearly 3,000 hectares were affected in an agricultural and livestock area with great environmental wealth. The fire has also forced the evacuation of thousands of people and the eviction of hundreds of animals, which have been moved to improvised shelters. Horses, chickens, pigs and goats are some of the animals that have been moved as a precaution, as indicated yesterday by the president of Tenerife City Council, Rosa Dávila.
The evolution of the “active and very dynamic” fire, as Clavijo defined it, forced the Teide National Park to be closed to tourists yesterday. From 6 p.m., once the visitors left the area, all access was closed and the Las Cañadas del Teide shelter was evacuated. The visitors were transferred to other tourist establishments on the island in order to avoid complications due to a possible unfavorable evolution of the fire.
Yesterday, only a hundred people were staying in the four resources set up for the evicted, as most have been resettled in the homes of relatives and friends. Anxiety spread among the affected neighbors, who had to leave with what they were carrying and had to leave behind all their belongings due to the progress of the flames. “You never know what you’ll find when you come back”, said one of the evicted yesterday, who pointed out that what happened “was to be expected” because there had been several incidents in recent weeks and the land “is very dry”.
The poor air quality in some municipalities as a result of the smoke, composed of the mixture of gases and small particles caused by the burning of vegetation, forced the population of the urban center of La Esperanza (El Rosario) to be confined yesterday. The head of Civil Protection and Emergency Services of the Government of the Canary Islands, Montse Román, pointed to the possibility that today the smoke will spread to the metropolitan areas of La Laguna and Santa Cruz de Tenerife and it will be necessary the use of masks outside closed spaces.
