The forest fire that started at 1:00pm yesterday (Tuesday) in Tejeda in Gran Canaria, has now devoured 210 hectares (2.1 million square metres) of pine forest as it advances through the summits, in an easterly direction, pushed by the high-altitude west wind.
The flames spread quickly last night and climbed the Pico de Las Nieves, the Pico de La Gorra, the Altos del Pozo, and El Salado, and forced the evacuation of 80 children from the Garañón campsite, 20 people who staying at the Camaretas campsite (San Mateo), some houses in Cuevas Blancas, next to the Valsequillo dam, and several isolated houses. These have all been for preventative measures and not for the risk of burning.
The low humidity in the area, around 20%, has not helped firefighters battling the blaze, nor has the haze that is lingering over the archipelago, but the fact that the temperatures were not too high prevented the flames from spreading further.
The lack of vegetation around the perimeter of the Los Pechos transmission towers, located on Pico de Las Nieves, has prevented the flames from damaging this communications centre which houses vital transmitters for AENA and the facilities of the EVA 21 Air Surveillance Squadron.
Nine helicopters joined the fight against the fire from the air during yesterday afternoon, three from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, three from the Government of the Canary Islands, two from the Cabildo based in Artenara, plus one from the Guardia Civil. During the evening a seaplane that was on the ground in La Gomera after extinguishing the La Palma fire, also came to the island.
As the fire is still declared a level 1 emergency and doesn’t affect populated areas or people, it is still under the supervision of the Gran Canaria Cabildo, this means other resources, such as the UME (military), can’t be called upon unless it’s raised to Level 2 when the operation is handed over to the Canary Islands Government.
The fire-fighting teams focused their efforts on trying to control the left flank of the fire last night, to prevent the flames from going down Roque Saucillo towards the Camaretas neighbourhood and other towns in Valsequillo. Overnight it was evolving slowly and the drop in temperatures and the increase in humidity helped firefighters.
The right flank of the fire spread towards the Riscos de Tirajana, where it was expected to die. The flames never reached the Los Marteles caldera, but they did reach the area around the Cuevas Blancas dam, and the evacuation of Cazadores was ruled out at 9:30pm because this part of the fire was almost stabilized and still several kilometres away from the public.
As a security measure, several roads were closed from yesterday, which remained closed during the night. They are the GC-15 at kilometre point 15, in La Lechuza towards the summit; the GC-600 between kilometres 6 and 14, from Cruz de Los Llanos to Ayacata; and the GC-130 in two sections, from Cruz de Los Llanos to Cazadores, from kilometre 0 to 14, and at kilometre 20, in the direction of Cazadores.
There is still no information regarding the origin of the fire, and the usual investigations have not yet begun.
