The fire occurred in an area where the canoes with which migrants arrive in the Canary Islands are stored, causing a dense column of smoke due to their material.
A fire in a warehouse located at the back of the Municipal Market of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, in the Barranco de Tirajana, where canoes and boats that reach the coasts of Gran Canaria are stored before their destruction, has caused a great scare during the this Sunday afternoon to the residents of the municipality.
Around 6:00 p.m., a dense column of smoke became visible for several kilometers, causing many to fear the worst and causing great concern in the southern and southeastern areas of the island.
The Security Councilor of San Bartolomé, José Carlos Álamo, has pointed out that these types of incidents in the place do not catch anyone by surprise. The area affected by the flames has been used as a storage point for boats since 2020, with the famous Arguineguín dock crisis in the middle of the pandemic.
The material from these boats encouraged the advance of the flames, which soon spread to several cayucos that were stacked, creating large flames and a column of smoke of considerable size, making it visible from the neighboring municipality of Santa Lucía de Tirajana.
The municipality's firefighters responded briefly to the alert, acting quickly but with great caution due to the presence of a high-voltage line nearby that could have complicated the situation much more and even left a good part of San Bartolomé without supply. of Tirajana and surrounding municipalities.
Fortunately, the incident has not caused any personal injury, as the warehouse is away from residential areas. The firefighter operation managed to quickly bring the situation under control, however, the total extinction will be prolonged due to the type of material of the affected canoes and their arrangement in the area, since many of them were stacked.
This is the second fire of its kind that has occurred in the Canary Islands in recent days. Just two days ago, in a composting plant in Arona, Tenerife, a large fire broke out that burned four hectares of the premises in just a few hours and which, according to the emergency personnel still working in the area, will take weeks to resolve. become completely extinct.
