After almost three days of uncontrollable spread of the flames, firefighters note Friday, August 18 some improvements on the island of Tenerife, where 4000,<> hectares were devastated by the "most complex" fire in the last four decades for the Spanish archipelago of the Canaries.
At midday, authorities noted "a favorable development" on the main front of the fire, Montserrat Román, head of the archipelago's civil protection department, located off the west coast of Africa, told a news conference.
4000 hectares burned
This forest fire, which broke out Tuesday evening, burned about 3800 hectares on a perimeter of 42 kilometers, according to the latest assessment, mobilizing more than 250 firefighters, 17 aircraft, but also more than 200 members of the Special Military Unit of the Ministry of Defense (UME), which intervenes on the most serious fires in Spain.
«
Tonight, the fire and weather behaved normally. The two previous nights, we had observed winds, temperatures and even the behavior of the fire quite unusual, "said Friday morning Fernando Clavijo, the president of the regional government of the Canary Islands, at a press conference.
The fire, he insisted, "behaved during the night in a more normal way", the extreme weather conditions having complicated the operations of firefighters, but also aerial reconnaissance.
Partial lifting of lockdown
The improvement of the situation at midday eased the confinement of the surroundings of La Esperanza, a town located near the northern flank of the fire, where the efforts of the firefighters are concentrated. About 4500 people have been evacuated since the outbreak of the fire and nearly 1700 remain confined Friday, against 4000 a few hours earlier, according to a midday update by Montserrat Román.
Camp beds have been set up by the Red Cross in a gymnasium in the municipality of La Orotava to accommodate the displaced, an AFP photographer said. Outside, animals were also collected by associations. The Teide National Park, very popular with tourists, has been closed since Thursday evening.
The cloud of smoke, visible on satellite images, has exceeded the summit of Mount Teide, a volcano that overlooks the island and the highest point in Spain with its 3715 meters above sea level, while the main centers of the fire are located on wooded hills about twenty kilometers below, near several villages. From the sea, large swathes of the forest are hidden by thick clouds of smoke that winds cannot dissipate, an AFPTV journalist found.
The 'most complicated' fire
The island has experienced larger fires in terms of area burned, especially in 2007, but weather conditions and topography made Fernando Clavijo say Thursday that the archipelago was facing its "most complicated" fire in 40 years. The fire created "its own weather conditions," according to authorities, with a cloud of smoke several kilometers high.
«
We recovered some moisture in the air Thursday night, but we know that from today it will drop again, "especially because of a rise in temperatures, said Friday morning meteorologist Vicky Palma. The fire comes between two heat waves on the island, which has many dry areas, increasing the risk of wildfires.
According to scientists, extreme weather events have intensified due to global warming. Heat waves are likely to be more frequent and intense, and their impact more widespread. 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). More than 75,000 hectares have already burned in 2023 in this country, on the front line of global warming.