On the Spanish archipelago of the Canaries, Tenerife is still plagued since Wednesday by gigantic forest fires. Some 26,000 people had to be evacuated. It is especially the north of the island that is threatened. The main tourist areas were spared. Initially, a lull had been announced yesterday before the authorities retracted. This Saturday August 19 was another difficult day for the authorities on site.
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The blaze, which broke out in a mountainous part of the northeast of the island, spread overnight from Friday to Saturday due to particularly difficult weather conditions, with strong winds and higher temperatures than ‘expected. It is “ the most complex of the last four decades for the Canary archipelago, according to the authorities.
This Friday, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, judged that the operations had “ well progressed during his end-of-day review. But he admitted Tenerife was experiencing the most complex blaze in four decades. ” The fire is still not under control. Thanks to aerial flights and the information collected, we were able to redo the survey of an area of approximately 5,000 hectares within a perimeter of 50 km. he says.
On the social network X (ex-Twitter), the teams of Eirif firefighters reported on their interventions during the night from Friday to Saturday.
🔴 During the night #EIRIF La Gomera y El Hierro han actuado en la parte alta de La Orotava continuando con las maniobras qu’habían hecho los teams de día avanzando desde La Caldera hacia la cumbre. En la madrugada los equipos se han tenido que replegar pasando a actuar en… pic.twitter.com/RtAHOFhrhK
— EIRIF (@EIRIFGobCan) August 19, 2023
Complicated ground operations
The winds changed during the night, the temperatures started to rise again. It’s 30°C in Tenerife, and the humidity has dropped. The topography of the island, which is very mountainous, makes ground operations complicated.
Manuel Miranda, territorial councilor responsible for emergencies: “ The weather conditions changed, and we had to organize evacuations from five municipalities in the north of the island. Regarding rescue operations, a message has just been sent to the entire population concerned, asking them to leave their homes because of the proximity and the danger of the fires. »
The two airports in this archipelago off the coast of Morocco are still operating normally, which has allowed the evacuation of thousands of people.
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