The Canary archipelago, which has been largely affected by the drought, is expecting a fresh heatwave between Monday and Wednesday after a brief lull this weekend after a week of temperatures exceeding 40C.
At least 2,000 people have been evacuated due to a currently out-of-control wildfire on the Spanish island of La Palma in the Canary archipelago on Saturday, Portal reports, as a heatwave ravages Europe.
This fire broke out in the early hours of the morning in El Pinar de Puntagorda, a forested area in the north of the island, forcing the evacuation of that town and its neighboring town of Tijarafe.
Marcos Lorenzo, the latter’s mayor, told Spanish broadcaster RTVE that residents of the village had been evacuated as the fire spread, but it was not possible to know how many of them actually left the site.
“The number of people to be evacuated could increase. That depends on our ability to control these strong winds,” said Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo.
According to the authorities, around 4,500 hectares of land were affected by the fire and at least 12 houses were destroyed by the flames.
heat wave
“New gusts of wind are expected and together with the dry terrain and lack of rain, the situation is complicated,” admitted Fernando Clavijo in a comment reported by The Guardian.
As a result, the Spanish military has dispatched 150 of its firefighters to help local teams and more have also arrived from the neighboring island of Tenerife. Four helicopters and four ground firefighting units try to bring the flames under control.
Puntagorda Mayor Vicente Rodríguez told RTVE that the area has experienced below-average rainfall in recent years due to climate change.
Many parts of southern Spain, including the Canary Islands, saw scorching temperatures in excess of 40C last week and another heatwave is expected between Monday and Wednesday. In 2022, nearly 500 fires burned more than 300,000 hectares in the country, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis).