Tenerife Island in Spain the emergency services in the Canary Islands said that over 26,000 people had to leave their homes by Saturday afternoon, which is a big increase from 4,500 on Friday. Around 11 towns are now being affected by this situation.
Tenerife: On Saturday, many more people had to leave their houses on Tenerife Island in Spain because a wildfire in the northern part of the island was still not under control. Thankfully, the fire hasn’t reached the main tourist spots yet.
By Saturday afternoon, the emergency services of the Canary Islands shared that over 26,000 people had to leave their homes, which is a big increase from 4,500 on Friday. Around 11 towns are now facing problems.
During the night, strong flames made the sky glow, and on Saturday, helicopters were seen dropping water on areas near houses where smoke was rising up into the air.
The fire started on Wednesday in a hilly national park near Mount Teide, which is Spain’s tallest mountain, during hot and dry weather.
Because the weather got worse overnight with higher temperatures and stronger winds, more people had to leave their homes on Saturday morning. This was announced by Fernando Clavijo, the leader of the region, during a press conference.
He mentioned that it’s hard to put out the fire from the sky because the smoke is really thick.
Around 5,000 hectares (which is like 12,000 acres) of land have burned up until now, with a boundary of about 50 kilometers (around 30 miles).
Rosa Davila, who is the President of Tenerife Council, told the reporters that this fire is bigger than anything they’ve seen before in the Canary Islands.
She explained that the most important thing right now is to make sure everyone is safe.
She also mentioned that no houses have been ruined yet because the fire department is doing a good job.
In a town called La Victoria, on the northwest side of the island, some folks who had to leave their homes were getting medical assistance.
A person named Paulina Fernandez, who is 58 years old, shared with Reuters that the night before they arrived, things were really tough. Everything was on fire, and the roofs were all covered in ash.
A big worry for the people who had to leave their homes was their pets and animals. Some had to leave their animals behind, but there were also images from Reuters showing people guiding their horses to safety.
The places on the island that tourists like to visit haven’t been affected by the fire so far, and the two airports are working normally.
This summer, very hot temperatures and dry weather have caused some really serious wildfires in different parts of the world, like in Spain’s La Palma island in July, and also in Canada. Just earlier this month, there were fires on Hawaii’s Maui island that sadly killed more than 110 people and caused a lot of damage to the old city of Lahaina.
Experts are saying that because of climate change, we’re experiencing more often and stronger extreme weather situations.