La Palma fire forces 2,500 to flee their homes and will take 'several days' to bring under control
La Palma fire forces 2,500 to flee their homes and will take 'several days' to bring under control
THE RAGING inferno engulfing the Canarian island of La Palma continues to rage out of control, and 2,500 residents have now been evacuated.
Yesterday, as reported in www.thinkspain.com, 54-year-old forestry brigadier Francisco Santana was killed whilst tackling the blaze, caused by a German expat burning tissue.
The culprit, 27, explained he had defecated behind a hedge and then burnt the toilet paper he used afterwards, and the flames took hold of the tinder-box-dry mountainside within split seconds.
Over 2,000 hectares – 20 million square metres, or 5,000 acres – have been destroyed in what has been described as the worst fire in the Canary Islands this century and the largest in La Palma in seven years.
As well as yesterday's 700 residents forced to flee their homes in the urbanisations of San Nicolás, Tacande and Jedey in the town of El Paso, a further 1,800 have been evacuated from four neighbourhoods in the nearby municipality of Fuencaliente de la Palma.
Not only is the blaze way out of control, but maximum temperatures pushing 40ºC in the shade and increasingly-high winds mean the situation is likely to become more 'complex' in the next few hours.
According to Canary Island regional president Fernando Clavijo, it could take 'several days' before the fire is contained and it is likely to keep spreading until then.
As yet, it is not thought that the fire has destroyed the underground water pockets towards the east of the island, and emergency services are pinning their hopes on a natural fire break made up of a wall of solidified lava and a string of dormant volcanoes.
Clavijo says the forestry brigadier, Francisco José Santana Álvavez, 54, was married with five children and had been working on wildfires for over 20 years.
He lost his life when he momentarily became separated from the rest of the squad, and his body was found minutes later.
One of Francisco José's colleagues, Luis Baute Alvarado, recalls that firefighters and forestry brigadiers 'put their lives on the line' whenever they deal with an inferno.
The clouds of smoke are now polluting the air in the nearby island of La Gomera, emergency services say.
Over 200 ground workers and at least eight aircraft continue to fight the blaze.
