Tenerife Fire Thursday official update

 

This morning the president of the Cabildo, Ricardo Melchior, has announced [Thursday 19] that the perimeter of the fire remains stable and they expect to have it under control in the coming hours. In the press conference this morning [Thursday 19], Ricardo Melchior highlighted that at the moment the news about the fire situation is good but he urges caution.  Although the situation has improved substantially the emergency “remains at level II where coordination is the responsibility of the regional government because of the type of resources still needed to extinguish the fire,” according to the Canary Islands Minister of Economy, Finance and Security, Javier Gonzalez Ortiz.

 

Residents of Tijoco and Vilaflor and may return home within hours, once the front that was advancing in this municipality has been stabilized. Most of the perimeter, which covers about 5,300 hectares, is stabilized even though the front that was moving along the northwest remains active, as well as various outbreaks within that area. According to the president of Tenerife, of the total surface area affected by the fire “with the first data we have compiled, we can conclude that about 1,000 hectares have been burned, of which 500 is forest.” In this sense, Melchior stresses that there is 50,000 hectares of forest in Tenerife so this fire could have affected one per cent.”

 

At night, the extinction work went according to plan. The eastern flank is stabilizing and the western front although still active, has progressed slowly, burning itself out when it reached areas of sparse pine forest and volcanic land, as has been forecast.

 

Melchior took the opportunity to congratulate all those involved so far in the fire extinguisher from the different public authorities, both technicians and those who have been in charge of the operation, as well as municipal officials, private companies have offered their support and NGOs.

 

According to Julio Herrero, the head of the Canary Islands Natural Environmental Service, the chief operating officer of INFOCA last night, “the prospects for extinguishing the fire are looking good. The strategy is to stabilize the active area and then proceed to control it. These are inaccessible areas and helicopter transport units need to be deployed which will be reinforced with seaplanes and the Kamov helicopter. If weather conditions remain stable, the fire will not advance to the Santiago del Teide area. In Vilaflor, all the other emergency workers and helicopters from the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES) of the Canary Islands will be deployed to ensure that the situation remains stable.

 

During the night the Canary Emergency Service special operation set up by the regional Ministry of Health, did not report any incidents related to the fire assists. However, the advanced medical and health care units have been deployed to Guía de Isora and will continue on standby.

 

Power has also been restored to a power line affecting the supply to Vilaflor and La Escalona.

 

 

Information on roads

The TF-583 road to Taucho is now open to traffic.

  • The other roads that are closed at different points are:
  • TF-567 from La Escalona to Ifonche,
  • TF-585 from access to Tijoco,
  • TF-38, from Boca Tauce to Chío at kilometre 22;
  • TF -21, from Boca Tauce to Vilaflor, at kms 47 and 67,
  • TF-51 from km 11 and TF-563 from the 7.5 kilometre point.

All these roads may be cut for several days to facilitate the traffic flow for vehicles involved in the firefighting operation. Roads state can be checked through the following link:

http://cic.tenerife.es/e-Traffic3/Control?act=map

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