King Felipe VI has called the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, this afternoon to ask about the fire in La Palma and show his support for what is the first major fire of the summer in Spain and the first to occur in the Canary Islands in the season, according to sources from Zarzuela.

The fire that has affected the northwest of La Palma since last morning is advancing uncontrollably after affecting 4,500 hectares, with a minimum of 13 houses burned and 4,000 people who make up the census of the affected areas called to be evacuated.

“There is resistance to leaving the houses,” warned the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, from the Advanced Command Post, in Tijarafe, and called for everyone’s responsibility, because “people come first, then the houses and then extinction”.

Clavijo, accompanied by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Consumption, Héctor Sánchez, and by the President of the Cabildo de La Palma, Sergio Rodríguez, thanked the State for its collaboration and the commitment to send resources from the Defense and Interior Ministries to assist in evictions.

In particular, he has thanked the calls received from the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and has affirmed that the State has articulated the necessary means and response.

The fire originated around 01:00 in the El Pinar area, in the municipality of Puntagorda, and a few hours later it went to level two, with which coordination passed from the Cabildo de La Palma to the Government of the Canary Islands.

Now it also affects the municipality of Tijarafe, whose population center has been evacuated.

The wind has spread the flames towards the summit, where aerial means try to cool the area in the Crestería to prevent the advance towards the Caldera de Taburiente.

At 6:00 p.m., the fire had not entered the National Park, but it has passed under El Reventón and is in the Hacienda del Cura area.

At night, a change in the wind is expected, which can lower the fire down the slope and a front will be established on the LP-1 highway to prevent its advance towards inhabited areas.

There are 10 aerial means and 300 troops on the ground acting in turns and the first 56 members of the Military Emergency Unit will shortly be incorporated.

One of the two expected Ministry seaplanes has already taken off from Malaga. The other is not yet in flight for technical reasons.

The president of the Cabildo called for responsibility and the abandonment of the houses when required, because the troops risk their lives and need to be able to focus on extinction and the defense of people and homes.

The sports halls of Los Llanos de Artidane and Tazacorte have been set up for the evacuees, the Ministry of Defense has begun to equip the Fort and the Red Cross has 400 beds.

The forest fire declared this afternoon on the island of Tenerife affects 60 hectares of scrubland between the municipalities of Arafo and Candelaria and has forced the preventive evacuation of 50 people and 200 head of cattle and the total closure of a road.

The Cabildo de Tenerife reports that the fire started at around 5:15 p.m. (local) below the Mirador de Chivisaya area and the evacuated areas on Las Hermosas, in Candelaria, and the Ls Tapias road, in Arafo, while that the total closure of the TF-523 occurred.

Two helicopters from the Cabildo and one from the Government of the Canary Islands have intervened in the extinction work -they have ceased their activity with the arrival of night-, and five Brifor crews from the Cabildo, a crew from La Gomera, four crews from the Tenerife Fire Brigade , with a total of about 70 people, approximately.

To facilitate the work of the forest brigades, the Los Loros highway (at kilometers 1 and 3) and the TF-24 Las Lagunetas (from kilometer 16) were cut off.

The president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, has indicated that the fire has not yet stabilized and has explained that the extinction work will continue all night to prevent it from reaching homes and from spreading further.

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has decided to evacuate the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory as a preventive measure against the evolution of the fire.

On its social networks, the IAC indicates that until further notice this Observatory is closed to scientific activity and explains that the scientific staff of the different telescopes have begun the evacuation.

A technical checkpoint will remain at the Observatory to support the brigades fighting the fire if necessary.

The fire is at level 2 of severity, which means that its management is the responsibility of the Government of the Canary Islands, in application of the Special Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Attention for Forest Fires in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands (INFOCA).

The Cabildo de La Palma has closed the insular network of trails, as well as access and transit to forest tracks located in areas of high risk of fires and in mountains of public utility, which are reserved for surveillance, prevention and extinction services of fires.

Festive, recreational, sporting or similar events planned throughout the island organized by any administration have been suspended, as has the use of fire in any agricultural activity.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has shown his “solidarity” on Twitter with the people affected. “I have just conveyed to the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, my solidarity with the people affected by the Puntagorda fire, in La Palma, especially with those who have been evacuated,” he shared on his profile, adding that it should be ” much caution.”

Sánchez has indicated that they make “all the necessary means” available to the Canary Islands authorities. “We have activated the UME, which already joins the members of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in the work of extinction,” he stated.

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