The forest fire declared this morning in the urban-forest interface area in the municipality of Puntagorda, on the island of La Palma, has gone to level 2 severity early in the morning at the request of the Cabildo, for which the Government of The Canary Islands will assume from now on the direction of the emergency. The flames are advancing rapidly. The fire has so far burned 140 hectares, affected 11 homes and forced the evacuation of half a thousand people.
The fire originated around 1:05 a.m. in the El Pinar area, at kilometer 76 of the LP-1 highway. The flames threaten the municipality of Puntagorda, made up of homes, crops, scrubland and pine trees, with possible damage to buildings and vehicles. In addition, there is a risk that they will spread to neighboring municipalities due to the wind that blows in the area, with gusts that can reach 70 kilometers per hour, which is complicating the work of extinction.
Preventively, a shelter has been evacuated and the residents of the municipality’s residence for the elderly are confined to await the evolution of the fire. At first, the Red Cross set up a facility in Tijarafe to assist the evacuees, about 12 people, although they have subsequently been transferred to another place in Los Llanos de Aridane, with capacity for a hundred residents.
After a meeting with the technicians who direct the extinction tasks, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, explained that the number of evicted could reach a thousand in the next few hours given the progress of the fire. However, it is expected that, if the weather “accompanies”, the fire could be controlled during the day, although he has also warned that the wind is very changeable and very strong gusts are expected.
Until now, land resources from the Cabildo de La Palma, Brif from the Ministry, EIRIF from the Government of the Canary Islands, La Palma Fire Department, the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC), the General Police Corps of the Canary Islands, the Civil Guard, the Local Police and the Red Cross, among others, have been involved. other emergency resources The air resources of the Government of the Canary Islands and the State have also been activated. In addition, the municipalities of Puntagorda, El Paso, Tijarafe, Los Llanos de Aridane, Breña Baja, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Tazacorte and Garafía collaborate in the deployed device.
Early in the morning, troops from the Tenerife Fire Consortium, the Red Cross and the General Corps of the Canary Islands Police will travel by boat to the island and it is expected that the Military Emergency Unit (UME) will join the extinction tasks during the day from today.
