A wildfire is currently raging in the Spanish holiday destination of Tenerife, with unusually high temperatures being a contributing factor.
Local authorities have been compelled to evacuate approximately 3,000 residents from their homes in response to the situation.
Firefighters, along with the support of six helicopters equipped to drop water, are engaged in combatting the fire.
The fire initially ignited on Wednesday afternoon in an area characterized by steep ravines in the island’s northeast, which had previously been devastated by a large wildfire in August, as reported by the regional government of Tenerife.
As a precautionary measure on Wednesday, approximately 2,400 individuals from the town of Santa Ursula and another 600 from La Orotava were evacuated, according to the regional government’s vice-president, Lope Afonso, who conveyed this information on Facebook.
Images and videos on television and social media depicted smoke rising near residences in a remote neighborhood, with helicopters actively dousing flames with water.
It’s worth noting that popular tourist regions in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, remain unaffected, and both of its airports continue to operate normally.
Blanca Perez, the island’s emergency coordinator, informed local radio that the fire’s core has been stabilized, and they are monitoring its progress to assess whether residents can return to their homes in a few hours.
This wildfire occurrence coincides with Tenerife and the neighboring island of Gran Canaria being under a heat alert, with temperatures surpassing 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), a level typically associated with the peak of summer.
The Canary Islands, a seven-island archipelago situated off the northwest coast of Africa and southwest of mainland Spain, are approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco at their closest point.
As global temperatures rise due to climate change, experts have cautioned that heatwaves are anticipated to become more frequent and severe.
