The start
Late in the evening of Friday 31st July 2009 a forest fire started between the villages of Los Canarios in the council area Fuencaliente and Tigalate in the district of Mazo on the southern end of La Palma.
It started at night, possibly at a fiesta and people were caught by surprise.
The fire raced through open shrubland and reached Los Canarios village where it stormed through the rough ground between the houses and damaged 28 houses.
The fire progressed away from the houses and up the hill to the heavily wooded areas above the villages, on its way destroying 2 more houses above the village of Tigalate. Just over 2000 people left the area in their own cars and went down to the coast near the Hotel Princess in Las Indias and Punto Largo (a small beach). Some older people were helped by the fire service but there was no official evacuation. Some of the people stayed in the hotel, others drove over to the military base between Los Cancajos and Santa Cruz de La Palma and many stayed with family and friends elsewhere on the island. Most of them returned to their homes on Sunday and Monday.Two fires
One part of the fire moved to the west of the Cumbre (mountain ridge) which divides the island. This fire moved through the trees over a distance of about 7km to the old lava flow near the Ermita St.Cecilia where it was stopped by the efforts of firefighters and the 200 to 300 meter wide lava flow which blocked its path and on which nothing grows. On Sunday evening this part of the fire was as good as extinguished and on Monday the fire was out. The second and larger part of the fire moved through the wooded areas on the East side of the ridge towards the higher parts of the Mazo council area. This area is sparsely populated and the fires stayed above the main road. Two houses were destroyed in this area. There was some danger because of burning pine needles floating through the air but the main danger was to the wonderful Canary Pine forests. People were concerned that the fire might spread north and then descend to the West via the Refugio El Pinar area so that the El Paso area would be endangered. This did not happen. Frightening, at first
While the fire was burning for the first few hours there was a very real and immediate danger to property and people in the Fuencaliente area. Some people literally had to run for their lives, others have lost their homes and contents and will never forget what happenned. Not all the buildings affected were actually peoples primary homes, some where second homes and even stone storage sheds, but the press doesn't seem to know the difference.
The large hotel on the coast was never in danger. Once it was clear that the fire had left the village the immediate danger was over and the accent changed to concern about the damage to the forests and ensuring that the fire did not spread down hill to the inhabited areas or go over the Cumbre and down to the otherside towards the El Paso area. Of course that did not stop the International Press making up stories and jumping to incorrect conclusions. The BBC and several Dutch and German papers and websites printed the most ridiculous stories about the situation (see below). Fire control
La Palma has its own well organised, well trained and well equiped forest fire organisation. The permanent employees spend the winter months training and clearing fire-breaks. Between June and October every year the organisation is expanded to 400 professionals and 3 or 4 helicopters. 2 are based in Puntagorda and the other (1 or 2) based at the airport. As residents we are very grateful to these people for risking their lives to protect us and the La Palma nature from these fires.
These people were all set to work as soon as the alarm was raised. On Saturday a ferry arrived with extra personnel from Tenerife and on Sunday a specialised army unit arrived on the island. Extra helicopters arrived on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to make a total of 11 helicopters and 2 special fire fighting planes joined the battle on Sunday. Emergency plans
The emergency plans were put into action including closing roads, warning people, issuing statements, getting backup from other islands and the Spanish mainland. Busses were moved to strategic points just in case more people needed to be evacuated, in the event this was not needed. The areas put on standby were El Paso, Las Manchas, Jedey in the west and Mazo and Tigalate in the East. There was a short period of panic when the evacuation was ordered and people jumped in their cars and drove down the hill to the coastal areas. There was no chaos, except in the minds of journalists sitting between 2000 and 20,000 kilometers away. Change in the weather
The weather in the few days before the fire was abnormally hot and dry with strong winds in the South and East of the island. The wind meant that the fire spread quickly through the trees. On the Sunday evening the wind direction changed to the more usual North-East and the temperatures dropped to around 25C to 28C which is normal for this time of year. On Monday morning there was cloud cover on the East of the island and some drizzle which helped to dampen the fire and surrounding areas slightly. Status on Monday evening (3 August)
The fire on the West of the island is out and firefighters are keeping guard to make sure no embers flare up.
The fire on the East of the Cumbre is still pretty much under control and confidence is high that it will soon be put out, provided the wind does not suddenly increase. Status on Tuesday morning (4 August)
The fire on the East of the Cumbre is also out.
The planes from the Spanish peninsula have gone home, the helicopters have gone home and the ones based in Puntagorda are back doing their normal work. Damage to property
The damage is restricted to a relatively small area in the South of the island and largely in the forested areas. The severe damage to houses in Fuencaliente is restricted to 28 houses with some other outbuildings with superficial damage. A further 2 houses were destroyednear Tigalate. Several business were burned including 2 carpenters workshops and a car repair workshop. Several parked cars were gutted, most of the crops on the steep hillside were ruined and areas of grape vines were burned. There will be very little wine from Fuencaliente this year, but next year production should be almost back to normal levels. The vines will almost certainly recover and people will replant their vegetable plots. Some livestock was killed, primarily goats, rabbits and chickens.
The village of Los Canarios has a quite desolate look to it.
Damage to nature
The damage to the trees and shrub land seems to be restricted to about 2500 hectares which is small compared to the size of the island. The island is not a 'fire-ravaged island' as stated in the press. Few to no people live in the forested area because it is designated as an area of natural beauty and building is not permitted. The Canarian Pine - a very special tree
The Canarian Pine is a wonderful tree and whilst this part of the forest will appear desolate for a few months the pine trees are not dead. Their pine needles are highly inflammable and the very hard core wood contains resin which can burn intensely, but the Canarian pine has a very thick layer of non-flammable bark which protects it from fire. These forest fires pass fairly quickly and do little permanent damage to the trees. After one winter the trees start sprouting new pine needles and a after a couple of years have recovered to close to their former glory.
See Pine trees Some frequently asked questions and corrections to false press reports How has it affected tourists on the island?
Almost no tourists were in danger from the fire, many in the South of the island would have been worried by the huge plume of smoke and the flurry of activity of firefighters and helicopters but the fires burn in the forests which are generally above 500meters and the tourist accommodation is generally on the coast or below the forests. In the Southern half of the island there is always a dry and barren volcanic area lower down with little or no vegetation so there is a buffer zone between the forests and the coastal resorts. There are some casitas (holiday cottages) in the village of Fuencaliente so presumably the occupants, if any, were temporarily evacuated. The holiday homes that we know of remained undamaged. Should I cancel my holiday?
No. Since Tuesday 4th August it's business as usual on La Palma.
The fire has not affected the tourist resorts of Puerto Naos, Tazacorte and Los Cancajos or the main towns of Los Llanos and Santa Cruz de La Palma. La Palma is a popular destination for walkers and nature lovers who often stay in one of the hundreds of holiday cottages (casitas) on the island. The most popular areas for casitas around Los Llanos, Todoque, La Laguna, Tijarafe, Puntagorda and Garafia were not affected by the fire.
It will have affected a small number of cottages around Los Canarios but it did not affect the hotel in the Las Indias part of the coastal area of Fuencaliente.
Visitors going to the lighthouses and saltpans of Fuencaliente and the volcanic craters of San Antonio and Teneguia and those travelling to the hotel in Las Indias may notice some damage to houses, grape vines and forests in the period between now and the end of the year but after a bit of winter rainfall and renovation work there will be little sign that there was a fire. The bars and cafes in Fuencaliente were open for business as usual on Sunday.
The already desolate volcanic scenery around the volcano San Antonio will not be broken by the usual green of the Malvasia grape vines until they grow back in the spring of 2010.
Walkers doing the 'Volcano route' hike will undoubtedly see burnt trees and shrubbery on the last half an hour or so of their walk. The beautiful forests in the North of the island and the magnificent Caldera de Taburiente have not been affected. In fact we spoke to visitors staying in Puntagorda on the Monday morning and they were serenely unaware that anything unusual was happenning. Was the Observatory in danger?
Not for a single minute. It is unclear to us where this false story came from, probably an enthusiastic journalist trying to get his story in the paper. It is just not true. The fire didn't come within 20km of the Observatory and anyway the telescopes are above the tree line and the shrubbery is kept well away from the buildings so even if the fire approached the area there would have been no danger to the buildings. Were tourists trapped on the island because the airport was closed?
No. Only 18 Belgian tourists in the hotel in Las Indias who were due to leave on Saturday could not do so because the only road out of that area was closed by the authorities to allow free passage of fire fighting equipment. They were offered free acommodation until they could get on another plane.
The airport was not closed because of the fire. There were some short delays to planes due to low cloud but people were not 'trapped'. I have booked a holiday, is it safe to come
Yes, yes, yes. The airport and ferry port are open and very little of the natural beauty of La Palma has been affected, at the moment it looks as if the total damage will be to less than 2% of the island. Is there permanent damage?
Not to the natural beauty of La Palma. Our experience is that in 2 or 3 years most tourists won't even notice that there was a fire. The nature recovers very quickly and the Canarian Pines will be green again next year. The damaged houses will be renovated within a couple of years. But there was a video where the whole village was orange!!
Er yes, The small bit of video which has been sent around the world to show the fire at its worst was taken by a local man from the roof of his house which is just below the main street. It shows the pine trees and bushes above the village which were on fire. If you look carefully you will see that some of the orange colour is not because of fires but due to the yellow street lights and the dangerous looking glare is not all flames but the light from those lamps. Of course I am pleased that it wasn't my village but it really wasn't as bad is it looks. I read that 4000 people were evacuated from the island.
This was reported but it was wrong, stupidly wrong. There was no official evacuation, somewhere between 500 and 2000 people left their homes but all of them stayed on the island and all but a handful went back home again on the Monday. We hope that the writer of the article gets sacked for writing such a wildly inaccurate statement. Was the North of the island still protected?
Yes. During the period when the fire was burning in the South of the island the North was still protected. In fact in the last 4 years large amounts of money have been spent improving the level of protection on the North of the island where most of the islands pine forests are situated. There are fire breaks, new access paths and networks of high pressure water pipes with connections for fire hoses roughly every 25 meters. Did a land owner start the fire to get permission to build on it?
No, but some reporter who has never been to La Palma claims that they did, probably this imaginative foreigner thinks La Palma is in Italy!!! Deliberately starting a fire does not give the owner any extra rights to build a house on La Palma. There are very strict building regulations and well defined planning zones. Conformance to the regulations is strictly policed at local, island and provincial levels and helicopters are used to take arial photos to allow accurate control.
Arson carries a 20 year jail sentence in Spain, and an arsonist could be grateful that the police caught him/her before the neighbours did. Are there often forest fires on La Palma?
Forest fires seem to happen about once every 4 to 5 years somewhere on La Palma. Usually they are high up the in the hills and cause damage only to the forests. The majority of house and holiday home owners are aware that fires are possible and take relevant precautions such as having cement, stone or gravel areas directly around the building and then an area of garden or bare ground which cannot catch fire.
The 2009 fire is the first one in recent history where houses have been destroyed. Wild stories travel faster than wildfires
It is amazing how even reputable news agencies and news media can make up the wildest stories which are not substantiated by facts. The TimesOnline.co.uk is probably the worst, but wild headlines from around the world have included these totally incorrect sensational epics of journalistic stupidity:
"La Palma fires lay waste to hundreds of homes" = 30 homes and some outbuildings.
"Mass Evacuation of La Palma over Raging Forest Fire" = the occupants of 2 small villages left their homes and moved to locations a few km up the road, nobody was evacuated away from the island.
"52 people were evacuated by boat" = 18 belgian tourist missed the weekly flight and some went by scheduled ferry to the neighbouring islands of Tenerife the next day to get a direct scheduled charter flight home.
"The island's economy is based mostly on tourism" = wrong, bad journalism, tourism constitutes about 7% of the islands economy.
"Tigalete is home to around 2,000 German families, many of them retired, said Jose Perez, German consul on the island". = rubbish, Tigalate has a population of 363, and is in the council area Mazo, Mazo has a total population of 1,877 people with a small percentage being german. There are 3891 Germans registered on the island, 189 Dutch, 317 UK, 16 Irish and 52 Belgians and small numbers from other countries.. There has not been a german consul on La Palma in recent history, the tiny office of the consulate (just 2 office workers) closed sometime around 2005.
"Gran Canaria contains 50 percent of the species unique to Spain." = Wrong island, and La Palma does have many species of plant unique to La Palma, also others unique to just 2 other islands and dozens which are unique to macronesia (Canarias & Madeira).
"The police have arrested 51 people for arson" == duh, that was on mainland Spain which is between 1300km and 2300km away. | 
