The President of the Canary Islands Government, Paulino Rivero, has just announced in a press conference together with the President of the Central Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, after the level of the fire in Gran Canaria had already been brought under control and lowered, expectations in Tenerife are starting to look good, even "hopeful".
Rivero said he was confident that if the weather does not change, and given the intense pace of work by the extinguishing teams, during the day today "we could give good news" that will also allow the fire in Tenerife to be brought under control.
Rivero reminded Zapatero that the two fires in the Canary Islands have forced the evacuation of more than 14,000 people, and that approximately 30,000 hectares of land have been burned between Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Rivero stressed that public administrations can be satisfied because the coordination between administrations has worked and the final stretch of these fires has been reached without a single person having died or been seriously injured.
For the Canary Islands president, the professionals who have worked on the extinction in both islands must be congratulated because they have managed to tackle fires of colossal dimensions in a short time and in conditions of strong winds and temperatures always above 40 degrees. "It is a success that they have been brought under control in such a short time," said Rivero, who insisted that the coordinated work between the administrations has allowed this speed in the extinction.
The Canary Islands president explained that during these days "hard" decisions have had to be taken in relation to the evacuations and said he "understood" all the citizens who at times resisted the security forces to leave their homes. "They were prudent measures," said Rivero, stressing that the most important thing is that no human lives have been lost.
FIRE CONTROLLED IN GRAN CANARIA
The Canary Islands Government has declared, at noon today, the forest fire that devastated the municipalities of the southwest of the island of Gran Canaria last Thursday under control. After the observation and reconnaissance work by the Fire Extinction Directorate, carried out in the affected area this morning, the Minister of the Presidency, José Miguel Ruano, has decreed the end of the level two emergency.
This decision has been taken as the fire is considered to be under control and it is considered that it does not pose a danger to people outside the extinction work, nor to assets other than those of a forest nature.
Faced with this situation, the councillor has decreed that the emergency level be lowered from 2 to 0A, which means that the situation can be controlled with the extinction means contemplated in the Island Fire Operation and that the direction of the emergency passes into the hands of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria. From now on, local rapid intervention support means requested by the Director of Extinction will be available, in accordance with the procedures established, and with aerial means.
The forest fire has had as its most immediate consequence the eviction of some 5,200 people from their homes in Gran Canaria, the vast majority of whom are residents of the municipalities of Mogán and San Bartolomé de Tirajana, as well as a perimeter of 20,000 hectares affected, and the area burned cannot yet be specified until the forest technicians proceed to count it.
ACN Press