The Tenerife forest fire that started on Thursday, around 11:30 a.m., in the Chajaña ravine, in Arico, remains uncontrolled this Friday morning having already affected more than 1,500 hectares of forest, and continues to climb towards the peaks of the island. The blaze has now been declared a Gran Incendio Forestal ( GIF – Great Forest Fire). The right flank is heading towards the Teide National Park and the left flank towards the south of the island, with firefighters already at work in the highest priority areas trying to prevent the fire from reaching the Barranco del Río. For now, the flames pose no direct risk to populated areas.
At a press conference on Thursday, Julio Pérez, the Canary Islands Government spokesman, reported that the situation is not positive because, in addition to being a difficult-to-access area, intense winds were already expected to exasperate the situation in the early hours of the morning.
More than a hundred ground troops from different administrations have been working through the night on the extinction tasks, according to the main 112 Canary Islands Government Emergency and Security Coordination Centre (CECOES 1-1-2), who have said that this Friday seven aircraft have been incorporated into the deployment: four helicopters from the (GES) Canary Islands Government Emergency and Rescue Group, one from the Cabildo de Tenerife, a seaplane from the Air Force and a Guardia Civil helicopter to coordinate the tasks at hand.
This morning, more than 170 ground troops from various administrations of the Canary Islands are working hard to extinguish the blaze. Last night several members of the UME, Emergency Military Unit based at Gando airbase, left Gran Canaria to join the fight.
Four helicopters, a seaplane, fire fighters and the army try to bring Tenerife fire under control
