Tenerife fire is finally out… Compost plant owner claims it was arson

Eight days after the start of the flames, the fire at the Arona plant is finally fully extinguished. The Tenerife Fire Prevention and Extinction and Rescue Consortium yesterday (Friday) declared that the fire at the composting plant, near Parque La Reina in the south of Tenerife, is fully out, eight days after it began.

Firefighters have been working uninterruptedly during this time to put an end to the fire that has affected about 3.5 hectares of the compost plant material, two local animal refuges, and smoke that has been smelt for miles around.

Owner of the compost plant claims arson

The owner of the burnt compost plant has spoken of “arson” and losses worth 12 million euros due to the fire.

The CEO of Suna 2000, the company that manages the composting and recycling plant that caught fire, insists that the fire did not break out at their facilities, but "in an illegal dump very nearby".

He calculates that between trucks, machinery and materials "losses could reach 12 million euros", complaining that "the local police didn't allow me to remove the machines and even put handcuffs on me," in an interview on the Spanish radio station, Cope.