The fire in Gran Canaria spreads uncontrollably on two fronts

The fire has so far spread over 12,000 hectares. Large parts of the pine forests in the Tamabada Nature Reserve on the northwestern side of the island have burned and about 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes since the outbreak last Saturday.

For three days, the forest fire at the popular tourist destination has spread uncontrollably. On Monday evening, the forecast continued to look gloomy while the fire area spread both north and south at the same time.

But changing weather conditions mean that the hope of being able to control the fire has now been seriously aroused.

Above all, lower air temperatures and changing wind conditions have worked in the rescue service's favor.

"The night gave us excellent respite," said regional president Ángel Víctor Torres during Tuesday morning.

The spread risk has diminished and Torres announced that he expects some of the 10,000 evacuees to start returning to their homes already on Tuesday or Wednesday.

According to SVT meteorologist Deana Bajic, the weather forecast continues to look good this weekend and next week.

- It will be a little better this weekend, a little less windy so that the moisture that is left, so that the fires will not spread as quickly.

- There is also little chance of rain showers in the middle of next week. There are small amounts, but it can still help.

Another source of joy is that the fire has failed to spread to the Inagua Nature Reserve, which is located just south of the fire area - something local authorities feared could happen.

Despite improved weather conditions, much work remains to be done before the fire is under control.

The fire brigade's work has been particularly challenging in the Tamabada nature reserve where forests with 25 meters high pines have generated flames that extend up to 50 meters into the air. In parts of the nature reserve, the rescue services have not been able to enter at all, reports El Mundo.

According to Deana Bajic, it is the difficult to access terrain in combination with the low humidity, high temperature and strong wind as raw that made the fire so difficult to control.

- It is difficult to access flames that spread easily through both the air and the tree roots beneath the surface, as it is very dry throughout the vegetation. Therefore, the spread is very large, says Deana Bajic.

To date, around 1,000 people have participated in the extinguishing work, together with 14 aircraft fighting the fire from the air.