The forest fire declared in Tenerife last Tuesday was intentional and has specified that the Civil Guard maintains three lines of investigation. "From the beginning it was suspected that it was an arson attack, the investigations by the Civil Guard have confirmed it," Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands, said this Sunday.
Clavijo has trusted that the author or authors of the fire, which began in the Arafo mountains with several sources, will be arrested. And he has regretted all the damage he has produced in addition to endangering the lives of thousands of people.
Regarding the complaint against three people who yesterday jumped the perimeter in the Las Lagunetas area, apparently to gain access to a house, Clavijo has indicated that they have been identified and he hopes that a double sanction will be imposed on them through criminal proceedings and the Administrative route. "Not only are they endangering their lives but also those of the people who have to rescue them," stressed Clavijo, who indicated that despite this episode, the behavior of the population "has been exemplary."
Last night passed relatively calmly in the Tenerife forest fire thanks to more favorable weather conditions than initially expected, which have appeased the flames affecting 11 municipalities. And with the first light of day, 23 aerial means have joined the work of extinction of a fire that started on August 15 and that, like a raging beast that feels attacked, celebrates its fifth day devastating the island.
Despite a light rain that has raised the humidity of the environment, the flames have stirred again and again against the actions that the firefighting teams are taking and it continues to grow, consuming surface area —the latest official figure stands at 10:00 p.m. hectares of burned forest and 70 kilometers of perimeter— and plunging the Canary Islands into uncertainty.
The Security Forces have ordered this noon the evacuation of the Parador Nacional de El Teide, located in the municipality of La Orotava. Although the areas of Arafo and Candelaria, where the fire originated last Tuesday, could be considered stabilized throughout this Sunday, and allow people evacuated in this part of the island to return to their homes.
The evacuations were the keynote yesterday, raising to 12,279 the people who have had to leave their homes due to the proximity of a fire that is advancing uncontrollably and spreading over 11 municipalities on the island (it has 31). The figure that had been offered in principle, that of the census, raised the evicted to 26,000.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, has reported at a press conference that in the face of a night that was anticipated to be very tough, and it turned out to be the case, it was possible to combat the advance of the flames "with great efficiency" and it has also been possible to access the damaged water channel in Aguamansa for its repair.
Federico Grillo, director of Emergencies of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, has specified that the fire continues to have a very large perimeter, 70 kilometers, and that the idea throughout this day is to take advantage of the day to consolidate the entire area north, where it would be feasible for the serious risk to disappear today.
The improvement in the weather conditions tonight gave a breather after the high temperatures and the southeasterly winds that, since Tuesday, had been reducing the level of humidity as an ally of a "hungry" fire, as the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, and of dimensions never before seen in the Canary Islands.
In the press conference offered by the Canary Islands government on Saturday night, Federico Grillo, head of Emergencies of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, pointed out that the potential of the fire is 21,000 hectares, which would be the most destructive in the Canary Islands. For his part, the technical head of Forest Risk of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martínez, reiterated yesterday that the fire is still far from extinction capacity.
The work last night of the firefighting teams against the forest fire that began on August 15 in Mount Arafo, on the island of Tenerife, has prevented the fire from burning homes. "And according to how the night was planned, it is almost a miracle," said the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo.
Specifically, he has indicated that there was a fire in a tool room or several vehicles, but that although the fire came close to the houses, it was protected and "we are not talking about a house fire", beyond some condition.
