The forest fire in the nature park on Tenerife Island, Spain’s Canary Islands, continues to grow. Firefighters and military personnel are responding to the forest fire, in which 3,273 hectares of land have turned to ash.
Despite the work carried out with a total of 17 aircraft, 350 firefighters and military personnel, the flames are spreading. So far, an area of 3 thousand 273 hectares has turned to ash in the fire. President of the Autonomous Administration of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said in a statement at night, “The fire is still spreading. But our priority is to protect the populated areas. “This is probably the most complex fire we’ve had in the Canary Islands in at least the last 40 years.” Clavijo said crews were working day and night, but the fire was “out of control”. The firefighting continues.
TRACKS TO THE MOUNTAINS ARE CLOSED
So far, an area of 1,800 hectares has turned to ash in the fire. While the fire brigades made great efforts to control the fire in difficult terrain conditions, 14 firefighting planes, 1 seaplane, 250 firefighters and military personnel were sent to the region.
It was also announced that 2 more planes will be sent today. In order to prevent any loss of life as a result of the fire’s expansion up to 22 kilometers, roads leading to all mountains on the island, especially Teide Volcano, which attracts great attention from tourists, were closed. About 150 people were evacuated from the sparsely populated areas of the island’s northeast, mostly populated by farmers and tourists.
On the other hand, 4,500 hectares of land turned to ash in the fires last month on La Palma Island of the Canary Islands, while 4,255 people were evacuated from the region. Warnings were made about the risk of forest fire due to the heat wave that was effective in the Canary Islands last week. (UAV)
