It is “probably the most complicated” of recent decades. The fire which affects the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary archipelago, located off the west coast of Africa, has already ravaged more than 2,600 hectares over a perimeter of more than 30 kilometers. As it broke out on Tuesday evening, it is raging in a wooded area and ravines in the northeast part of the island.
The government decreed Thursday morning the confinement of the locality of La Esperanza, in the municipality of Rosario, while a dozen small villages or hamlets in this tourist area were evacuated as a precaution. About 7,600 people in total are affected.
“The night was very hard (…) This fire is probably the most complicated that we have had in the Canaries (…) at least in the last 40 years”, declared the president of the government of the archipelago, Fernando Clavijo, at a press conference in Tenerife. “Extreme heat and weather circumstances (…) complicate the work of firefighters,” he added.
“As never seen in the Canary Islands”
More than 250 people, as well as 17 aircraft, are mobilized against the flames. The Military Emergency Unit (UME), which regularly intervenes alongside the firefighters to fight the most voracious fires or the most dangerous for the population, has been mobilized.
“A new UME detachment should arrive in the afternoon,” added Fernando Clavijo, which will bring the number of soldiers mobilized on this fire to more than 200, according to the Ministry of Defence. “We are facing a fire like we have never seen in the Canary Islands,” said meteorologist Vicky Palma during this press conference, referring to a record column of smoke and a continuous duration of the flames of 34 hours.
The blaze comes after a heatwave that swept across the Canary Islands left many areas dry there and increased the risk of wildfires. 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.