Tenerife faces the “most complicated” fire in the last 40 years

O The fire, which started on Tuesday night, is raging in a wooded area and in ravines in the northeast part of the island, an archipelago located off the west coast of Africa, having consumed more than 3,200 hectares, according to the latest report by the authorities. .

The government today decreed the confinement of the locality of La Esperanza, in the municipality of Rosario, while a dozen small towns or villages in this tourist region were evacuated as a precaution.

Around 3,000 people were evacuated from their homes, while around 4,000 asked to remain in their homes to avoid smoking.

“The night was very hard (…) This fire is probably the most complicated we’ve had in the Canaries (…) at least in the last 40 years”, underlined the president of the government of the archipelago, Fernando Clavijo, during a conference of press in Tenerife.

“The extreme heat and weather conditions (…) complicate the work of firefighters,” he added.

More than 250 people, in addition to 17 aircraft, are mobilized to fight the flames, including the Military Emergency Unit (UME), which regularly intervenes alongside firefighters to fight the most voracious or most dangerous fires for the population.

“We are facing a fire like we have never seen in the Canary Islands”, stressed, in turn, meteorologist Vicky Palma, referring to a column of record smoke and a continuous 34-hour duration of the flames.

Local authorities have closed the roads leading to the mountains in the northeast of the island.

The fire follows a heat wave that swept across the Canary Islands and left many areas dry, increasing the risk of wildfires.

According to scientists, extreme weather events are intensifying due to global warming, with more frequent and intense heat waves and their more widespread impact being expected.

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 71,000 hectares have already burned in 2023 in this country.

Also Read: “Out of Control”. Fire in Tenerife dictates evacuation of five villages