Good news at last. The fire that has ravaged the Spanish island of Tenerife since August 15, in the very touristic archipelago of the Canaries, is “stabilized”, announced Thursday evening the head of the regional government of the Canaries, Fernando Clavijo, during a conference of press.
“We can now say that the fire has stabilized, this is excellent news,” explained the manager as the flames have devoured a perimeter of around 90 kilometers for nine days over an area of around 15,000 hectares. The emergency services waited to have a phase of “control and extinction and about 48 hours later, if the perimeter has not advanced”, then we can consider that the fire is “stabilized”, detailed the manager.
7% of the island in smoke
This forest fire, the most important in Spain since the beginning of the year, did not cause any victims, but forced thousands of people to flee. Up to more than 12,000 people at the height of the disaster, most of whom have already been allowed to return home. Tenerife having a total surface area of 203,400 hectares, approximately 7% of the island’s surface area was reduced to ashes.
Many roads still remain cut off on the island off the northwest coast of Africa. “This does not mean that there will not be a reactivation, warned Fernando Clavijo adding that all “the means were deployed in a wide perimeter of more than 90 kilometers to be able to act immediately and stifle any type of reactivation that would happen”.
According to the latest assessment provided by the authorities during this press conference, nearly 15,000 hectares have been affected on the island, the largest of the Canaries, and 115 firefighters and soldiers are hard at work leading this battle against the fire, aided by 16 aircraft.
“Complicated” fire
The island has experienced larger fires in terms of burned area, especially in 2007, but the weather conditions and topography of this one, in a hilly area, made Fernando Clavijo say on Thursday that the archipelago was facing its “most complicated” fire in 40 years.
During a visit to Tenerife on Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that a state of natural disaster would be declared in the areas concerned, which will trigger emergency subsidies and measures to help the population. He had also assured that the government was going to “commit (…) to the reconstruction work” of the island, without however specifying how high financially.
The fire broke out after a heat wave hit the archipelago, drying out many places, increasing the risk of forest fires. As for its origin, it is still unknown even if certain local officials had mentioned the criminal track. The Civil Guard (Spanish equivalent of the gendarmerie) of the Canary Islands, joined by AFP, did not confirm the hypothesis of an intentionally caused fire.
The Canary Islands generally experience spring-like temperatures all year round, but temperatures have recently soared to 40°C. In 2022, 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). Since the beginning of the current year, the country has recorded 340 fires which have ravaged nearly 76,000 hectares, according to Effis.
According to experts, extreme weather phenomena have intensified recently due to global warming, responsible for more frequent, longer and more intense heat waves and periods of drought. Spain, which has been experiencing its fourth heat wave of the summer since Sunday, is on the front line in Europe in the face of global warming and its consequences.