The Spanish island of Tenerife is going unchecked, battling one of its worst fires in 40 years

Thousands of people in Tenerife have been evacuated as the worst forest fires in 40 years “get out of control” and ash turns the sea black.

The blaze broke out in a mountainous national park on the Spanish island on Wednesday, spreading across 2,600 acres in 24 hours as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze amid difficult ground conditions.

With the smoke visible from space, it has affected some 7,600 people who have been evacuated or confined, shutting down one of the main tourist areas.

The fire, which broke out on Tuesday evening, destroyed an area of ​​forests and canyons in the northeast of the island. More than 2,600 hectares have been burned in a radius of more than 30 kilometers, according to the latest figures from the authorities of this archipelago of the Canary Islands, located off the west coast of Africa.

On Thursday morning, the regional government ordered the confinement of the town of La Esperanza, in the municipality of Rosario, while a dozen small villages and hamlets in this tourist area were evacuated as a precaution. In total, about 7,600 people have been affected.

“The night was very heavy (…) This is probably the most complex fire we have had in the Canary Islands. If not always, at least for the past 40 years,” said the president of the archipelago’s government, Fernando Clavijo, at a press conference in Tenerife.

The “extreme heat” and “weather conditions” made work difficult, he added.

More than 250 people and 17 aircraft are participating in the extermination tasks. The Military Emergency Unit (UME) has been mobilized, which, together with firefighters, regularly intervenes throughout the national territory to fight the most ravenous or dangerous fires for the population.

“We are facing a fire unlike any we have seen in the Canary Islands,” warned the meteorologist Vicky Palma at the press conference, referring to a record column of smoke and a continuous spread of the flames for almost a day and a half.

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

The fire comes after a heat wave in the Canary Islands has left many areas parched and increased the risk of wildfires.

According to scientists, extreme weather events have intensified due to global warming. Heat waves are likely to become more frequent and intense, with greater impact.

In 2022, 300,000 hectares were burned by more than 500 fires in Spain, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis).