The Tenerife fire is the “most complex” fire in the Canary Islands in the last 40 years

In Tenerife, a fire that broke out on Tuesday evening has destroyed more than 3,200 hectares. About 3,000 people have been evacuated and about 4,000 people have been told to stay indoors to avoid the fumes.

The head of the regional government said Thursday that the fire that has already destroyed more than 3,200 hectares on the Spanish island of Tenerife is “probably the most complex” in recent decades in the Canary archipelago off the west coast of Africa.

The fire, which broke out on Tuesday evening, was burning in a forested and ravine area in the northeastern part of the island. More than 3,200 hectares have burned and the fire is still “active and out of control”, according to the latest report from the authorities.

3,000 people have been evacuated

This Thursday morning, the government issued a decree to confinement the locality of La Esperanza in the municipality of Rosario, while dozens of villages or hamlets in this tourist area were evacuated as a precautionary measure. About 3,000 people have been evacuated, and about 4,000 people have asked to stay indoors to avoid the fumes.

“The night was very difficult (…) This fire is probably the most complex we have seen in the Canary Islands (…) at least in the last 40 years,” said the head of the government of the archipelago, Fernando Clavijo, during a press conference in Tenerife.

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

Soldiers and firefighters are fighting the fire

More than 250 people and 17 aircraft were mustered to fight the flames. A military emergency unit (UME) has been mobilized, which regularly intervenes alongside the firefighters to fight fires that are more vicious or more dangerous to the population. Clavijo added that “a new detachment of the Armed Forces of Liberia will arrive this afternoon,” which will bring the number of soldiers mobilized to face this fire to more than 200, according to the Ministry of Defense.

“We are facing a fire that we have never seen before in the Canary Islands,” said meteorologist Vicki Palma during this press conference, referring to a record plume of smoke and a continuous 34-hour duration of flames.

The local authorities closed the roads leading to the mountains in the north-east of the island. “We ask the population to respect all these barriers,” said Montserrat Roman, head of the archipelago’s civil protection department, on Wednesday.

More than 500 fires in Spain in 2022

The fire comes after a heatwave swept through the Canary Islands, leaving many areas dry and increasing the risk of wildfires.

According to scientists, extreme weather events have intensified due to global warming. Heatwaves are likely to be more frequent and intense and their impact to be more widespread.

In 2022, 300,000 hectares will be destroyed by more than 500 fires in Spain, a record number in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis). More than 71,000 hectares have already burned in 2023 in this country, on the front line of global warming.