More than 4,000 people were evacuated from a tourist area on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria due to an uncontrolled forest fire that has already ravaged since Saturday nearly 1,500 hectares, said Sunday the authorities.
The fire is "extremely virulent" and is currently "neither circumscribed, nor stabilized nor under control," warned Sunday evening the president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, in a statement. He mentioned the possibility of additional evacuations, especially at the Tejeda Cross, a mountainous site popular for its spectacular views in the center of Gran Canaria.
Strong winds and high temperatures
More than 600 firefighters and eleven aircraft are engaged in the fight against this fire which forced to bar a dozen roads of this island of the archipelago of the Canary Islands. The weather conditions are difficult, with strong winds and high temperatures. "The next few hours will be very important because the weather forecasts for the night are not good," added Ángel Víctor Torres. The fire came a few days after firefighters managed to contain a fire in the same area of the Canary Islands, which led to the evacuation of several hundred people.