Firefighters use diggers and helicopters to combat the compost plant fire in Tenerife

A coordinated effort involving helicopters, heavy machinery, and firefighters was deployed yesterday (Sunday) to extinguish the fire that broke out on Thursday afternoon at the composting plant in Parque La Reina, located in the municipality of Arona in the south of Tenerife.

As reported by the Tenerife Fire Consortium on their social media platforms, the operation focused on sector 1, involving ‘spreading out’ of the compost material that is still burning and then watering it from the air and the ground to cool it and extinguish the flames.

The fire has impacted approximately 3.5 hectares of the plant's premises. Yesterday, a team of 21 professional and volunteer firefighters, along with the GES helicopter, conducted 63 water discharges onto the blaze.

So far, it has affected around 100,000 tons of vegetative material. Emergency authorities have emphasized that while the fire does not involve the spread of toxic elements, it does generate significant smoke, which, depending on the wind direction, may approach nearby residential areas.