Spain: Tenerife fire 'partially stabilised', but not controlled

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ANDRES GUTIERREZ / ANADOLU AGENCY / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA AFP 14:27 pm, August 23, 2023

The fire that has ravaged since August 15 the Spanish island of Tenerife, in the very tourist archipelago of the Canaries, is "stabilized for the most part", but not yet under control, said Wednesday the local authorities. This fire "is not yet controlled, far from it, but most of it is stabilized," said the head of the archipelago's emergency services, Manuel Miranda, at a press conference in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the island.

With nearly 15,000 hectares reduced to ashes, or about 7% of the island's area, this fire is the largest in Spain since the beginning of the year. "It has been an extremely difficult battle, which the emergency services, at the moment, are fortunately winning," Miranda added. About 300 firefighters and soldiers, with the reinforcement of 18 air assets, are at work to try to overcome the fire, which broke out on the evening of August 15 in a mountainous area of this island, one of seven of the Canary archipelago, located off the northwest coast of Africa.

12,000 evacuees

The disaster, which now covers a perimeter of about 90 kilometers, led to the evacuation of more than 12,000 people at the height of the disaster, many of whom have already been allowed to return home. On Wednesday morning, 3,109 people remained evacuated, said at the press conference the head of Civil Protection of the Canarian government, Montserrat Román. During a visit to Tenerife on Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that a state of natural disaster would be declared in the areas concerned, in order to accelerate measures to help the population.

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The fire broke out after a heat wave hit the archipelago, drying out many places. 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). Since the beginning of the current year, the country has recorded 340 fires that have ravaged nearly 80,000 hectares, according to the same source.

According to experts, extreme weather events have intensified recently due to global warming, which is causing more frequent, longer and more intense heat waves and droughts. Spain, which has been experiencing its fourth heat wave of the summer since Sunday, is on the front line in Europe in the face of global warming.