A small rock in the Atlantic: Another Update on the Fire on La Palma

Hallelujah, the wind's dropped! The temperatures have dropped too, although it's still hot.

We now have 500 firemen fighting this fire, but the losses are mounting. Up to 2,000 hectares -- including 90% of Fuencaliente -- and a dozen houses have burnt. Worse, a man from Fuencaliente has died of a heart attack.

One of the three fires is out.

The second, in the east side of the island moved slowly north. They had it controlled, but the wind got up and it broke out again. Now it's almost back where it started, at Tigalate. At least it headed towards the coast and away from the houses.

And the big one, on the west, headed towards El Paso - (the municipality, not the town). As far as I can gather, they're using hte lava flows as fire breaks, and it's still near Santa Cecilia.

The fire at Icod on Tenerife is "controlled". The fire at Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera is out, after burning 24 hectares.

Labels: fire, La Palma