emergencies
Forest fire in Tenerife forces further evacuations
The fire spreads in La Orotava. photo
© Arturo Rodriguez/AP/dpa
The forest fire on Tenerife keeps the popular holiday island in suspense on the fourth day. Hundreds of people have once again had to leave their homes threatened by the flames. But there is also good news.
The devastating forest fire Tenerife has led to new evacuations in the north of the Canary Island. Since early Saturday morning, residents of six other towns have been asked to leave their homes, said Canary Islands Prime Minister Fernando Clavijo.
According to the Canary Emergency Service, the number of evacuees increased to around 7,600. According to official information, the flames that had been raging since Wednesday night had covered around 5,000 hectares of nature by Saturday afternoon. That corresponds to an area of about 7000 soccer fields.
According to Clavijo and other authority spokesmen, it is probably one of the worst fires in Tenerife in the past 40 years. However, the head of government attached importance to the statement that the new evacuations were a preventive measure. The population can rest easy.
Shelters in gyms
The spread of the fire was recently largely contained. The regional civil defense chief Montserrat Román Casamartina also spoke of a “rather stable situation”. There are still no injuries and no destroyed houses, she explained.
Emergency shelters were set up for the evacuees in gyms in several locations, but according to the media, only a few of those affected took advantage of them. Most were staying with friends or relatives, it said.
Because of the slower spread of the fire, the curfew for several thousand people in the municipality of El Rosario was lifted on Friday evening.
According to official information, the fire was fought by more than 250 emergency services on Saturday. These were supported by a total of 19 aircraft and helicopters. The firefighting from the air was also hampered by the heavy smoke on Saturday, it said. According to the authorities, problems continued to be caused by the difficult-to-access terrain, the drought, the high temperatures, which should climb up to 34 degrees on Saturday, and the strong and changing winds.
Access to the volcano Teide blocked
The cause of the fire that broke out near the municipality of Arafo was still unclear on Saturday. Clavijo said an investigation was launched on Saturday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced a visit to the island for Monday.
As a precaution, the access roads to the Teide volcano, which is popular with tourists, have been closed. Nevertheless, normality prevailed in the tourist areas, as the Tenerife travel authority emphasized. According to the latest information from the travel company Tui, there have been no restrictions on travel so far. Tourists from Germany and other countries rarely book accommodation in the north of Tenerife. Most vacation in the south.
Forest fires are more common in summer on the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. Only in July a fire on La Palma destroyed almost 3000 hectares. Tenerife is the largest island of the archipelago, which is one of the most important holiday destinations in Spain. It has an area of around 2035 square kilometers, around 930,000 inhabitants and is known, among other things, for the more than 3700 meter high volcano Teide, the highest mountain in Spain.