The annual mobilisation to prevent and tackle forest fires in the Canaries got under way officially yesterday (1 June) and once again sees a sizeable deployment of human resources and equipment across all the islands except Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
Launching the crucial campaign, the regional government’s Directorate General for Emergencies revealed that a total of 2000 people, supported by 200 vehicles and 18 aircraft, will be on hand in the coming months to deal with wildfires.
Experts believe that the risk of major fires, at least in the early part of summer, has been mitigated by the unusually inclement weather that has affected the Canaries since the beginning of the year, although they warn that parts of Tenerife and Gran Canaria have had 25% less rain than usual and conditions could still be ripe for outbreaks.
Met Office forecasts for the summer indicate that higher than average temperatures are “70% likely” across the islands, a prospect that has prompted early action by the authorities to ensure the required resources are in place before they are needed.
Among the key logistics already in place are seven giant inflatable water storage tanks to aid firefighting in remote areas and tens of thousands of litres of kilos of fire retardant, which can be dropped from the air by helicopter or applied by ground crews to slow a fire and give firefighters time to extinguish it.
Of the 18 aircraft (water bombing helicopters and planes) on permanent standby as of now to deal with outbreaks, six have been provided by the Spanish government and the remainder by the Canarian government and various island councils.
The authorities hope that the resources, coupled with state-of-the-art early warning systems using a network of cameras positioned in forests, can prevent a repeat of major incidents such as the massive fire in Tenerife in August 2023. Considered the island’s worst in forty years and causing 80 million euros worth of damage, the blaze devastated almost 15,000 hectares and saw 12,000 people evacuated in eleven municipalities at its height. It took almost a full month to be out completely.
Photo credit: UME
