Environment
Weather helps fight fires on the Canary Island of La Palma
Smoke rises from a forest fire. The fire, which has been raging since Saturday morning near the town of Puntagorda in the northwest of the island of La Palma, has covered almost 4000 hectares. photo
© —/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
Almost 4000 hectares of ground are on fire on La Palma. In the meantime, however, the fire is only slowly consuming itself – if at all. Thanks to lower temperatures and light winds.
In the forest fire on the Canary Island, which belongs to Spain La Palma has relaxed the situation a bit. The weather conditions would continue to improve during the day, which would help fight the fire, said the head of the island’s government, Sergio Rodríguez, in an interview with state TV broadcaster RTVE.
The fire that has been raging since Saturday morning near the town of Puntagorda in the northwest of the island is not yet under control. But most of the more than 4,200 evacuated people have been allowed to return home since Sunday evening.
The authorities meanwhile reduced their estimate of the area affected by the flames from around 4700 to almost 4000 hectares, which corresponds to around 5500 football pitches. At least 20 houses were burned down, it said. The flames have not spread since Sunday, or only very slowly. According to official information, the fire was fought on Monday by more than 500 emergency services, who are supported, among other things, by a total of eleven firefighting aircraft and helicopters.
The spokesman for the military emergency aid unit UME, Tomás Romero, also emphasized the better weather conditions in an interview with RTVE: The wind was weaker, the temperatures lower and the humidity higher.
The north of La Palma affected by the fire is popular with emigrants from Germany. The island off the west coast of Africa was in the headlines for months in 2021 because the Tajogaite volcano spewed huge volumes of lava that flowed towards the sea in red-hot streams. At least 7,000 people had to flee from the lava back then – country houses, banana plantations and vineyards were buried under meter-thick lava.