Tenerife’s ability to deal with forest wildfires this summer has been bolstered by the news that the Spanish army is again to provide soldiers and resources to help local firefighting efforts.
In a repeat of the successful cooperation implemented for the first time last year, the island’s governing Cabildo has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Defence to allocate troops and military vehicles for round the clock patrols, along with night-time helicopter surveillance flights, to help detect and tackle outbreaks of fires across vulnerable areas of woodlands in upper parts of Tenerife.
Last year’s military mobilisation, known as Operation Prometheus, is acknowledged as having played a key role in keeping Tenerife free from blazes of the type that devastated many areas in 2023, including the island’s most serious one for 40 years that destroyed 15,000 hectares of forest and spread along a 90-km perimeter in August.
The deployment, which will commence on 1 July and last until 1 September, is to be formalised in a cooperation agreement due to be signed later this month by island president Rosa Dávila and Spain’s Defence Minister, Margarita Robles.
Announcing the deal, Dávila said that last year saw the army make over 1000 surveillance patrols and the presence of the troops was not just a hugely valuable early detection mechanism but also a clear deterrent to those who start fires deliberately. In that regard, she revealed also that investigations into blazes have led to the arrest of five people in the last 18 months.
