Power outage in whole island lasting 48+ hours

La Gomera's outdated diesel powered electricity-generating station belching fumes (archive image)

A fire broke out in La Gomera's diesel powered electricity-generation plant in the island's capital San Sebastian de La Gomera during the early hours of Sunday morning. Consequently from around 3am the whole island had been without power even though the newly erected wind turbines were producing plenty of electricity. The operating company Endesa, Spain's largest energy supplier, stated that this was due to all power generated having to go through the old power station for distribution around the island and that they have over 100 people working to restore power and repair the damage, but there's no information about the extent or the cause of the fire.

The island's president Casimiro Curbelo vented his anger yesterday, stating that many components in the old generating station were outdated and should have been replaced at least ten years ago. He called for Endesa to rise to their responsibility and said that it is Endesa's duty to guarantee the power supply. He also stated ''what La Gomera is living through since the early hours of Sunday morning shouldn't be allowed in the 21st century''.

Meanwhile power has been partially restored to most parts of the island as more and more large emergency generators have been brought in from neighbouring islands with 12 more being shipped today from Cadiz in Spain. First to have their power restored were medical and other essential facilities. However even those who had their power restored today report that it is intermittent as the demand is high when for example refrigeration restarts after such a long interruption and even all the emergency generators combined can't supply peak demand in the heat of summer. For this reason most public events scheduled to take place over the next couple of weeks have been postponed. The population should ''use electricity responsibly'', i.e. use as little as possible, according to Endesa, as the supply is fragile and unstable.

Multinational Spanish company Endesa never had the best reputation in La Gomera, to put it mildly, and seem to be a prime example of how La Gomera and the Canary Islands in general are being treated badly as Spain's colony and to be exploited by Madrid and Spanish companies. Endesa had revenue of nearly 33 billion Euros last year but are very slow to invest in La Gomera's electrical infrastructure, while charging high prices. Economically unimportant La Gomera's difficult terrain and low population density just doesn't make a huge profit for a multinational utility company.

Old woes caused by old foes

...now in La Gomera ???
(Source: Endesa.com)

I remember a few years ago there was a bundle of mains supply cables fallen to the ground from my old neighbour's house with some blank wires showing where the insulation was chafed through by the now corroded away wall bracket. The incident was reported by all neighbours immediately and many times thereafter but nothing happened even though every time it rained or when there was high humidity, noisy blue and green sparks were dancing around merrily several feet in the air and the wires began glowing ominously with louder explosive bursts showering the surroundings in orange to white glowing embers. Endesa eventually put a bit of insulating tape around 'the wound' and tied it high again while wearing 3000-Volt-proof rubber gloves. The crew were very proud of having the latter and said this protection was ''muy importante'' when working in La Gomera. A few months later a study was undertaken for new electricity lines, but only after the whole lot had fallen down again, now sparking away even more crazily in damp weather with the added effect of steam hissing from 'the wound' as well. Concerned neighbours kept reporting same to Endesa angrily, but were being assured by the emergency phone line operator that all would be fixed ''pronto'', soothingly adding ''at least you still have mains power''. Thankfully La Gomera's climate is mostly dry. 

Only about seven years later Endesa crews, who I must stress are very competent and amicable but suffering a mean employer, arrived and erected a couple of new poles with modern lines and all could breathe a sigh of relief with the electric fireworks and excitement in damp weather gone for good.

La Gomera had no electricity grid until the 1970s and much of the infrastructure dates back to those years, having been patched up here and there over the decades.

The current electricity emergency will continue for some time as the damage to equipment from Sunday's fire at the generating plant seems to be extensive. Endesa are now pointing the finger at Madrid as apparently they had previously notified the Spanish government of the poor state of the infrastructure.

The island's parliament today held an extraordinary emergency session and unanimously approved a motion calling on Endesa to cover the cost of losses suffered by business and private customers. The island's executive will defend the island's citizens' claims legally and will assist in preparing same, it was announced. An urgent demand for a reform of legislation governing the power supply of and in islands under Spanish jurisdiction will be sent to Madrid.

There'll be a lot of spoiled food going to the piggery and the dump over the coming days. Eating ice cream is definitely not recommended for a while !

Last night's bushfire now under control

The scene of the incident, with the blue lights of the emergency services visible (image: gomeranoticias.com)

 There was a fire in an area of bushy vegetation and palm trees in the La Dehesa area near Chipude in the municipal area of Vallehermoso, at the foot of historic La Fortaleza table mountain. The village of La Dehesa is also home to one of only seven petrol stations in La Gomera, which was an additional fire hazard.

The fire was first reported at around 11pm last night and the emergency services were quickly on the scene, working all night to contain the fire. This morning the blaze was brought under control with 16 hectares having been affected by the fire. The Canary Islands are currently on alert for a high risk of fires due to the recent high temperatures and strong winds.

La Gomera's disastrous fire of 2012 started not too far from last night's blaze.

Body discovered in Tuesday's fire outbreak

The scene of the fire near Playa del Ingles (Image: Bomberos Valle Gran Rey)

A fire broke out in Valle Gran Rey on Tuesday afternoon around 4pm. The small area of scrubland affected is close to the minor road between La Playa and Playa del Ingles, near art gallery Oasis. The local voluntary fire brigade arrived quickly on the scene and the fire was subsequently brought under control. However, when the area was checked more thoroughly a male body was discovered. Rumour has it that the fatality is a Swiss citizen and that a small gas container had exploded. Another person is said to have narrowly escaped the flames uninjured. The Guardia Civil police continue to investigate the incident.

Recent fires in Valle Gran Rey

''Fears grow that Valley Gran Rey is target of an arsonist

June 12, 2019 by TenerifeNews

A shocking fire on picturesque La Gomera has reinforced a view that an arsonist could be at work in the municipality of Valle Gran Rey.

The blaze affected 20,000 square metres of land and led to the evacuation of several houses and three apartment complexes, some of them being used by tourists.

The authorities have praised the swift actions of the emer-gency services for controlling the fire before it spread even further. Fortunately, no-one was hurt and there was no damage to any properties.

However, there are fears that it was started on purpose and follows on from another fire a few weeks ago.

The Mayor, Angel Piñero voiced “his sincere gratitude, on behalf of residents and the corporation, for the effective-ness and predisposition of Civil Protection, volunteer firefigh-ters of Valle Gran Rey, the Environment Brigade of the Cabildo, the Police Local, Civil Guard and other groups that collaborated to stop the advance of the flames, as well as all citizens who helped and collaborated for hours.”

He added: “Valle Gran Rey is suffering sabotage and intentional arson for months. The Civil Guard will investi-gate the causes of this event, but what is clear is that the town does not deserve what is happening.”

The fire began during the night on the coast of Valle Gran Rey and affected an area of 20,000 square metres.

The flames were detected at 10pm (May 19th 2019, Ed.) in the place known by residents as Quiebracanilla, next to the road that leads to Playa del Inglés, about 200 metres from the coast. 

The head of the volunteer firemen of Valle Gran Rey, Guillermo Barroso said the fire “was very virulent” in the first hours, due to the existence of “strong gusts of wind”. 

At one stage, the flames threatened to spread towards the apartment complexes of El Guirre, Los Tarajales and El Cieno. Because of this, they were evacuated, together with several houses, and parked cars were removed.

The first fire was recorded in this municipality a few weeks ago at a private property (at the municipal recycling compound on April 30th, Ed.) in the area of El Altito. There has also been continuous sabotage carried out against the drinking water supply network during the last months. ''

1000 posts now guest writers wanted

Just now I realised that today's previous post was in fact my 1000th on this blog. I never dreamt of reaching that figure when I started in 2012 not having a clue about blogging, just as a response to all the fake news during the devastating fire that summer. I realised that there wasn't anyone reporting in English from La Gomera and struggled to keep you informed. I learned a fair bit, but I still don't know all that much about blogging.

What kept me going over the years was the encouragement from the many readers I met in person, and the surprisingly high volume of interest in La Gomera's affairs from all over the world, but mainly from the UK, Ireland and the rest of Europe. Over 645.000 page-views on this blog by now, and well in excess of 10 million visits to the associated Google+ site which I started some years later, have convinced me to keep going, even though sometimes I don't write that regularly. Muchas gracias and thanks for visiting my blog, and don't be shy to comment. I am also now looking for guest writers, so please contact me through a comment on any newer post if you'd like to contribute, even if it is just a La Gomera holiday snap you' like to share - all copyrights will remain yours. 

End of 100th post this year💯💤

Fire-jumping fiesta

The picturesque town of Agulo in La Gomera's north will celebrate the highlight of the annual Fiesta de San Marcos', the spectacular fire-jumping event, tomorrow night Saturday 28th of April 2018 (see promotional video below). Following an old custom the fires are lit in honour of the town's patron saint San Marcos every year, and many of the town's population are rising to the challenge and jump over the bonfires. Visitors are welcome to join in and there's even a version with smaller fires for the children. If you're a bit older or just not as daring, you can wait until the fires have burnt down a bit and try the 'light' version. The organisers recommend to cover your hair and avoid wearing flammable synthetics. The bonfires will be lit following the procession and mass in the centre of Agulo.

After the spectacular fire-jumping, there'll be general merriment and dancing to live music all night, and and plenty of cold drinks to quench the thirst resulting from the bonfires. I can reveal that this year a Canadian film crew who are shooting a documentary about La Gomera intend to capture what must be La Gomera's most captivating and spectacular fiesta during its main event.

And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of rubbish

This morning there's a large fire in the area behind the council's yard where refuse trucks and other machinery are parked in Valle Gran Rey. The blaze was consuming all the organic material and tree cuttings which the council stores there awaiting to be shredded for composting. The material collected there was set on fire illegally on several occasions over the past years . Today it appears it was arson again as the fire started long before daylight and the material was quite wet. Controlled burning of organic waste can be applied for and a professional fire crew will choose a date, direct the proceedings, and have a fire engine on standby. The fire was easily brought under control today as there was very little wind this morning and 8mm of rain fell in the area during the night, making it unlikely for the fire to spread. However, a thick cloud of smoke is hanging over lower Valle Gran Rey this Saturday morning with an unpleasant smell. 
The storage and chipping of the organic material and its composting is somewhat controversial here as a few farmers reckon that pests and plant diseases are spread that way, while other farmers want to spread the composted material on their fields, having seen the benefit to their crops in previous years.
Some good news: The barranco (usually dry riverbed) in Valle Gran Rey is running with a nice bit of water all the way down to the sea for the first time in a long time.

Smoke on the water...

Burnt again

The blaze early Sunday morning (Above image: 112Canarias)

In the early hours of yesterday morning the emergency services were alerted to the fact that there was a large fire in the area behind the council's yard where refuse trucks and other machinery are parked in Valle Gran Rey. The blaze was consuming all the organic material and tree cuttings which the council stores there awaiting to be shredded for composting. It is presumed that the fire was started deliberately and only about six weeks ago the same happened there. Indeed, the material collected there was set on fire on several occasions over the past years. The local voluntary fire brigade brought the blaze quickly under control but a pall of smoke was still hanging over lower Valle Gran Rey most of Sunday morning. The storage and chipping of the organic material and its composting is somewhat controversial here as a few farmers reckon that pests and plant diseases are spread that way. However, controlled burning of organic waste can be applied for and a professional fire crew will choose a date, direct the proceedings, and have a fire engine on standby. Luckily there was no wind at all early Sunday morning, but with the extremely dry conditions now, a few stray sparks could have caused a lot of damage.

Fire brigade and the council's JCB still at work later Sunday morning quenching  smouldering debris

Canary Islands prepare for this summer's fire threat

Forest fires season 2017

Janet Anscombe reports:

''The Canarian Government has announced its forest fire fighting and prevention measures for this summer. The announcement was made in a presentation yesterday by Canarian President Fernando Clavijo with the Government’s Política Territorial, Sostenibilidad y Seguridad minister, Nieves Lady Barreto. Specialist helicopter units (Equipos de Intervención y Refuerzo Forestales – EIRIF) will cover all the islands, being physically based in La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, the result of an investment of almost €3m over two years, explained the president.  The minister, for her part, emphasized that the creation of EIRIF represented fundamental progress in fire fighting and prevention in the Canaries, with the units’ capacity to intervene on any island when required being an important preventative measure which, although it couldn’t stop fires starting, allowed an improved response to extinction and early assistance to stop fires spreading. Each squad will comprise 24 personnel including a technician, a foreman, and 6 specialists, and so together with 3 coordination technicians and 3 physical trainers, there will be 78 additional operatives integrated into the islands’ existing intervention resources.The units will act as reinforcement for the existing Cabildo cover which each island has in its own right, and will be employed between June and October, the high season for forest fire risk, whenever a fire exceeds insular level and requires a coordinated regional response from the Canarian Government. This will be of particular importance should fires break out on more than one island simultaneously. There will also be a hidroavion from Madrid based in the islands, and the training exercises for that were taking place recently between Gran Canaria and Tenerife (Photo: Ejército del Aire)...''

Fire quickly extinguished

Image: gomeratoday.com

A minor brushfire was reported in the El Lamero area of San Sebastian de La Gomera at around 7 pm last night. The fire brigade and emergency services arrived quickly on the scene and managed to prevent the flames from spreading. They brought the flames under control despite the difficult conditions with gale force winds gusting over 80 km/h in the area last night. The fire was declared as completely extinguished at around 10 pm.

Minor brushfire rapidly put out

Fire brigade at work in Macayo yesterday (Image © gomeratoday)

A small fire in brush and undergrowth in the Macayo area of Vallehermoso in La Gomera's northwest was reported yesterday at 1:50pm and a unit of the fire brigade was dispatched to the location immediately. The fire was declared as completely extinguished at ten past four in the afternoon. The fire brigade praised the rapid intervention of locals living nearby who fought the fire until their arrival, resulting in very small a burnt area of only about 100 square metres.

This time of the year such fires are a rare occurrence and there had even been some fog and light drizzle in the area in the morning.

Fire alert

With the arrival of summery weather conditions and the dry season in the Canary Islands the risk of fire has increased and precautionary measures have now been taken to prevent blazes. As in most summers on La Gomera, the public barbecue areas have now been closed and all open fire is illegal since yesterday. Cigarette ends must be carefully quenched and camping is prohibited except on designated sites and all waste materials like bottles, plastics and paper must be properly disposed of in bins. Even the use of chainsaws and welding equipment is not allowed in and near forested areas. 

All these measures came into force yesterday and apply for the whole summer season. Please be vigilant and report any sightings of fire or smoke immediately by phoning 112.

Mobile phone blackout caused by 'bonfire'

St. John's  bonfires went out of control in Valle Gran Rey last night causing destruction

The council's recycling yard for organic material in flames, illuminating the whole mountain behind it

First the council's large recycling yard for dry organic material waiting to be shredded went up in a huge blaze (as happened midsummer several times in previous years) and the local  voluntary fire brigade had to attend to prevent the flames from spreading further. 

Mobile phone support equipment destroyed

The 'bonfire' at the mobile phone mast of Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera

Then just after midnight a bonfire at a place called Juan Rejon in the La Calera part of lower Valle Gran Rey apparently spread to metal sheds housing the electronic equipment for the lower valley's controversial mobile phone mast. Flames and a pall of thick black smoke emanated from the site which can only be accessed via steep paths and several sets of rocky stairs. By the time the fire brigade had arrived on the scene the mobile phones in lower Valle Gran Rey were without coverage and this morning it was evident that all the equipment was completely burnt down. 

Not much left of the equipment (behind red facade)

La Calera's controversial mast
before last night's fire

The council yard still burning 12 hours later

Neighbours in the area have been fighting for years for the relocation of the mast and associated equipment. They claim that the mast has caused a dramatic increase in disease rates around it and that it was erected illegally. The equipment had been sabotaged several times in previous years, leaving lower Valle Gran Rey without mobile phone reception for long periods of time. Mobile coverage went dead once again last night after a couple of years of reinstated service. I expect Valle Gran Rey to be without mobile cover for quite some time. The exact cause of last night's fire is still being investigated as arson is suspected.
N.B.: You can get a signal from the mast up in the mountains all along the centre of the floor of the valley. A good spot is the bus station.

Meanwhile the organic material in the council's recycling yard was still burning and smouldering at lunchtime while loud bangers were being fired into the sky to celebrate the fiesta of San Juan. Two fire brigade teams are still working to quench the flames and Canarian TV was seen filming.
Another unwanted 'bonfire' along an embankment half a mile further up the valley is under control but a unit of the fire brigade is needed  to extinguish remaining hot spots. 

A fire on the ferry that luckily wasn't a ferry on fire

The scene of the incident Friday night. Image: gomeratoday

The Armas-operated ferry Volcan de Taburiente left Los Cristianos (Tenerife) on Friday night on the regular 6:30 sailing to La Gomera. When she was a good few miles out at sea a fire broke out in a refrigerated truck on the car deck and caused a major alarm. All passengers had to assemble at the various emergency meeting points on deck and all had to don life jackets. Helicopters and lifeboats circled the ship and the Fred. Olsen ferry sailed to the scene to remain on stand-by. The fire was isolated and eventually put out by the crew and the sprinkler system while the ferry returned to Los Cristianos where emergency services were awaiting her arrival. There were no injuries and the authorities have called the handling of the emergency by crew and all services 'exemplary'. Last night the Volcan de Taburiente was back in service between Tenerife and La Gomera.
UPDATE: The Volcan de Taburiente is now docked in the harbour of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria undergoing repairs and another ferry has replaced her on the regular route to La Gomera.

Smoke billowing from the car deck while passengers with life jackets are assembled out on the upper decks.  Image:gomeratoday