Man injured in kitchen fire at La Laguna apartment

A man was left with moderate injuries on Wednesday after a fire broke out in a flat on Calle Volcán Nevado del Ruiz, in the Las Chumberas area of the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife). The information was released by the Canary Islands Government's Emergency and Safety Coordination Centre (CECOES) 112.

According to the 112 centre, the alert came in at 18:54, when callers reported a fire in a flat inside a residential building in the area. The coordination centre immediately activated emergency resources.

The response

Units from the Consorcio de Bomberos de Tenerife attended the scene with a heavy urban pump truck (BUP), an aerial ladder truck and an urban tanker-support pump (BUN), according to the breakdown of services provided by the Gobierno de Canarias. Firefighters extinguished the flames, which were confined to the flat's kitchen, and ventilated the property.

According to information gathered by Diario de Avisos on the day's operations, the 112 coordination centre had reported a fire on the second floor of a residential block. On arrival, local police confirmed to firefighters that staff from the Servicio de Urgencias Canario (SUC) had already attended to a person and that the property was empty.

The victim

SUC personnel treated a man who, at the time of initial assessment, was suffering from smoke inhalation and moderate burns, barring complications. The victim was transferred to the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria.

There is a discrepancy between sources regarding the type of ambulance used for the transfer: the Gobierno de Canarias news portal and eldiario.es report that transport was provided by a basic life support ambulance from the SUC, while Diario de Avisos states that an advanced life support ambulance was used.

Officers from the Policía Local and the Policía Nacional also took part in the operation, securing the area and assisting the other emergency resources deployed to the scene.

Context

According to Diario de Avisos, the Las Chumberas callout was part of a busy day for the Bomberos de Tenerife across the metropolitan area. On the same Wednesday, crews took part in the rescue of an injured hiker near Cruz del Carmen in the Anaga massif, and responded to several vehicle and scrubland fires at various points across the island. These included extinguishing a car that caught fire while parked on the TF-152 road in La Laguna itself, and a scrubland fire on a plot of land in the El Tablero neighbourhood of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

This incident should not be confused with another residential fire recorded in La Laguna in December 2019, on Calle Heraclio Sánchez, in which two people were affected by smoke inhalation, as reported at the time by the local press.