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. ''

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

Fire quickly extinguished

The remote mountain village of El Cedro.

A fire broke out in La Gomera's Garajonay national park yesterday at midday affecting 1100 sqm of palm trees, sweet chestnut, heather trees, laurel and brush near the village of El Cedro. Fire brigades as well as national park personnel and police rushed to the scene and the fire was under control about an hour  and a half later, but due to the very dry conditions this winter the area around the outbreak was hosed down as well as a precautionary measure.

The El Cedro valley is normally one of the wettest areas in La Gomera receiving a lot of rain, drizzle and fog, but this winter conditions there, and in the rest of the island, have been exceptionally dry and warm.

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.

Coach on fire in national park last night

Images: gomeratoday.com (2 above)
and gomeranoticias.com (1below)

A coach went on fire on the main road through the forest of La Gomera's Garajonay national park between 7 and 8 pm last night. The private bus was travelling in the direction of the island's capital. All passengers could leave the coach unharmed in time before the fire spread and they were taken to their destination by a replacement vehicle. The incident happened in a thickly forested area between La Laguna Grande and Pajaritos. Fire brigades had to  concentrate their efforts to prevent the fire from spreading to the dry vegetation on both sides of the road as some of it had caught fire already. The bus burnt out completely and the road was closed for a while with diversions in place. The latest news late last night was that the situation is completely under control and that the fire has been put out. A unit of the fire brigade remained on the scene of the incident to keep watch. The cause of the fire is not yet known.