Spain: Thousands of Tenerife residents in the Canary Islands in Spain have been asked to flee their homes due to a wildfire that authorities deemed “out of control and that raged on for a fourth day.
The regional government for the Canary Islands reported that 4,000 more people were ordered to evacuate. Those were in addition to the 4,500 people who, on August 18, were forced to move out of harm’s way on the Atlantic island that is home to about 1 million people. The figure of more than 8,000 evacuees is expected to rise sharply in the coming days.
The Canary Islands have been in drought for most of the past few years, just like most of mainland Spain. The islands have recorded below-average rainfall in recent years because of changing weather patterns due to the climate crisis.
Emergency services for the Canary Islands remarked later that the number of evacuees “could surpass 26,000,” according to provisional calculations based on the island’s census. The service added that all those people who needed somewhere to take refuge would be directed to shelters.
The regional government noted that “the fire is beyond our capacity to extinguish it” due to hot and dry conditions and high winds that have fanned the huge flames. Firefighters have been unable to establish a perimeter around the blaze, which has consumed at least 5,000 hectares.
“We have never seen a fire of this dimension on the Canary Islands,” the island’s governor Ms. Rosa Dávila stated.
According to the central government reports, about 265 firefighters are involved in rescue operations with the help of 19 aircraft, which included units from the mainland sent to help, and more reinforcements are on the way.
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