Wednesday’s reactivation of the forest fire in Tenerife, thought to be well under control, has escalated due to changing wind conditions and high temperatures. Its severity has now been raised to Level 2, leading the Canary Islands Government to assume control of the firefighting operations.
- – 30 hectares affected
- – Over 3,200 residents evacuated
- – 130 people spent the night in temporary shelters
- – Nine aerial units to intervene today
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo confirmed this morning the evacuation of more than 3,000 people and stated that the situation is being managed with the aid of the Emergency Military Unit (UME), which was mobilised around 3:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. He expressed cautious optimism that the situation on the ground is not likely to get out of hand again.
Blanca Pérez, the Councilor for Safety, Emergencies, and Natural Environment of Tenerife Island Cabildo, identified the most concerning area as Pino Alto, on the boundary between Santa Úrsula and La Orotava, mainly in the latter municipality. She also clarified that the 30 hectares affected exceed the perimeter impacted by the major fire last August.
A total of more than 3,000 residents have been evacuated, most of whom are from the neighborhood of La Corujera in Santa Úrsula with 200 or so from Pino Alto in La Orotava. An evacuation of a seniors’ centre in La Corujera took place early in the morning at 4:31 a.m. Residents from Pino Alto are currently the only ones who remain evacuated.
Teams from El Hierro and La Gomera are set to arrive today, and UME professionals stationed on Gran Canaria will also join the ground efforts. Manuel Miranda, Councilor for Territorial Policy and Emergency Services, is in ongoing communication with Rosa Dávila, President of the Tenerife Island Cabildo, to coordinate additional support.
Current Status and Outlook
Blanca Pérez reported that the situation this morning is much calmer than last night. A new reactivation has occurred in the area known as Lomo de los Bobos, in the Pinolere zone, but it is far from residential areas. Support includes helicopters from various agencies and military units specialised in forest fires.
As authorities continue to monitor and address the situation, residents have been advised to stay alert to official updates and instructions.
The blaze is evolving more favourably this Thursday but with “tense calm”, given that ten or so more days are still expected with temperatures above 30ºC and a relative humidity below 10%.
This is what the Security Councilor of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Miranda told journalists this morning acknowledging that on Wednesday night there had been a “scare” that forced the alert level to be raised because the wind had pushed the flames towards residential areas.
The Government of the Canary Islands has thus assumed the direction of the extinction work at the request of the Tenerife Cabildo, which also requested the activation of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) around midnight.
The fire is stabilised in the centres of La Corujera and Pino Alto but has already burned around 30 hectares and has led to the evacuation of approx. 3,200 people, 3,000 from the municipality of Santa Úrsula and another 200 from La Orotava. For now no further evacuations are expected.
The General Directorate of Emergencies has activated troops and two helicopters from the Forest Fire Intervention and Reinforcement Teams (EIRIF) of the Government of the Canary Islands, based on La Palma.
In addition, four helicopters from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, two of them with heliborne brigades of the BRIF of Puntagorda, assigned to the service of the Canary Islands, along with a helicopter from the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES,) have joined the rest of the air and land device deployed by the different municipalities, the Cabildo and the State.
However, if necessary, other resources that the Tenerife Cabildo may request would be mobilised. The move to level 2 in the alert for the reactivated forest fire on Tenerife – relatively close to the Puerto de la Cruz area – is due to the fact that the island authorities consider that there is a serious risk, both for the population and for non-forest property, and with this measure they will be able to have greater resources, available from the State.
