The forest fire that devastated part of the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands in August experienced strong reactivations in recent days, rising to level 2 on a danger scale of 3 on Wednesday night, local authorities said.
In this area of northeast Tenerife, in the very touristy Canary Islands, almost 15,000 hectares, equivalent to about 7% of the island’s surface, were devastated this summer and reduced to rubble.
The fire, which broke out on August 15, was declared “stabilized” on August 24 and “under control” on September 11, but was never declared “extinguished.”
AFP
“It’s the same fire. Let us remember that it was declared under control but not extinguished, it has left the perimeter, but it is in fact the same fire,” explained Ivan Martín, emergency director for the island of Tenerife, on Thursday morning on Canary Islands public television Islands.
“The night was quite intense, especially from 11:30 p.m. when we moved to Level 2, which allowed the EMU to activate,” he continued.
According to the emergency services, the increase in temperature, which is currently above 30 degrees, as well as the increasing wind, have contributed to reactivating the causes of this forest fire.
The authorities announced on “X” (formerly Twitter) that they had received the reinforcement of 60 soldiers and 26 army vehicles to take part in “the fire-fighting operations”. A total of 120 people are currently fighting the fire in the area.
AFP
According to current figures, around 3,200 people who were evacuated as a precautionary measure on Wednesday have not yet been able to return to their homes.
This includes 3,000 people who have left the town of Santa Ursula, as well as 200 people living in the town of La Orotava, Mr Martín added.
The island of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, has experienced major fires in terms of area burned, particularly in 2007, but the weather conditions and topography of this hilly country had led authorities to say that the archipelago was facing the “most complicated” fire in 40 years.
The fire broke out after a heat wave hit the archipelago and dried out many places.
The ongoing rise in temperatures caused by climate change is leading to more frequent, intense and longer heatwaves and increasing the risk of fires, experts warn.
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).