2023-08-19 16:27:17
Update
August 19, 2023
18:27
The fire which has already ravaged nearly 4,000 hectares on the Spanish island of Tenerife is “probably the most complicated” in recent decades on the Canary archipelago.
A large fire broke out on Tuesday evening in a wooded area and ravines in the northeastern part of the island of Tenerife, off the west coast of Africa. As the fires began to “normalize” on Friday, strong gusts of wind and higher temperatures facilitated the spread, still uncontrollable, of the flames. New inhabitants were thus forced to leave their homes.
According to the latest report, the fire has already ravaged 3,800 hectares over a perimeter of 42 kilometres.
“The fire is beyond our ability to put it outmaybe not in all areas, but in a large part of them,” said Pedros Martinez, firefighting operations manager, adding that firefighters were struggling on the ground by the wind. and heavy clouds of smoke.
“Last night’s weather conditions were frankly extreme. (…)”, confirmed to the press the president of the regional government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, which thus facilitated the spread of the fire “mainly along the northern flank”, in particular due to “much stronger winds, temperatures much higher than expected and lower relative humidity”.
Evacuations and Containment
Since the outbreak of the fire, approximately 26,000 people were evacuatedthe emergency services said.
“The fire and weather conditions have changed and we had to evacuate five new municipalities in the north of Tenerife,” said Manuel Miranda, a local emergency services official, on the Twitter network renamed X, this Saturday, warning of the “danger and proximity of the fire”.
These new evacuations come as meteorologists have warned that the mercury will rise again over the weekend in Tenerife.
“We are facing a fire like we have never seen in the Canary Islands.”
Authorities also warn against gas fumes and fine particles emitted by the fires. “This fire is probably the most complicated we have had in the Canary Islands, at least in the last 40 years,” Fernando Clavijo said on Thursday.
The cloud of smoke, visible on satellite images, passed the summit of Teide, a volcano which overlooks the island and the highest point in Spain with its 3,715 meters above sea level, while the main centers of the fire are located on wooded hills about twenty kilometers below, near several villages.
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Firefighters and soldiers fight fiercely
More than 250 firefighters, as well as 17 aircraft, were mobilized on Thursday against the flames. The Military Emergency Unit (UME)which regularly intervenes alongside firefighters to fight the most voracious or dangerous fires for the population, was mobilized with more than 200 members.
“We are facing a fire like we had never seen in the Canary Islands“, had declared, during a press conference Thursday, the meteorologist Vicky Palma, evoking a record column of smoke and a continuous flame spread time of 34 hours.
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Local authorities have closed the roads leading to the mountains in the northeast of the island. “We ask the population to respect all these roadblocks“, had declared, on Wednesday, the head of the civil protection department of the archipelago, Montserrat Román.
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No Belgian tourist threatened
Good that the roads leading to the Teide volcano have been closed traffic, customary life continued in tourist areas, according to the island’s tourism authority. Travel operator TUI also confirmed there was no disruption to travel to the island.
The Federal Public Service (FPS) Belgian Foreign Affairs is aware of the presence of a quarantine of Belgians near the fire in Tenerife, but has not yet received a request for assistance, spokesman Wouter Poels said on Thursday.
“Some 95% of our travelers are currently in the south of the island while the fire affects the north. One of the hotels is located about 25 kilometers from the outbreak, and tourists see the smoke in the distance“, TUI spokesman Piet Demeyere said on Thursday. “We have not yet received any departure requests from tourists, but we keep an eye on the situation“, he added.
The fire occurs after a heat wave that hit the Canary Islands, leaving many dry areas there and increasing the risk of forest fires. According to scientists, extreme weather events have intensified due to global warming. Heat waves are likely to be more frequent and intense and their impact more widespread.
The area affected by the fire covers almost 2.5% of the surface of the island of Tenerife, which extends over 203,400 hectares.
Last year, 300,000 hectares were destroyed by more than 500 fires in Spain, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis). More than 71,000 hectares have already burned in 2023 in this country, on the front line in the face of global warming.
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