A week ago, there was a serious breakout of bush fire in Tenerife. To date, around 150 square kilometres of the volcanic island have been affected and, among other areas, the Corona Forestal Nature Park, Tenerife’s most important green lung, has been largely destroyed.
The Teide plateau, on which the IAC maintains a large area for observatories, including the German OT operated by KIS, was in great danger. KIS would like to thank the IAC management and the employees for their forward-looking actions. We acknowledge the extraordinary endeavours of the emergency services and firefighters in their collective commitment to halt the fire's progression and safeguard the integrity of the observatory.
KIS and its partners are now engaged in assessing the state of infrastructure where observations will not be possible in the near future due to the fire-related weather conditions. However, all employees of the KIS, its German partners MPS and AIP and all users are happy and grateful that the OT is no longer under threat and has remained operational.
For further information feel free to contact S. J. González Manrique.