Fire in the national park of Tenerife causes evacuations of villages

TENERIFE, Canary Islands, Spain, Aug 16 (Reuters) – A forest fire that broke out in a national park on the Spanish island of Tenerife has spread to 300 hectares, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of five villages and cut off access to the forest surrounding the Teide volcano.

The fire, which started on Tuesday night, devastated a wooded area with steep ravines in the northeast of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, making the work of firefighters difficult.

“The fire is powerful and it is in a complicated area,” said the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, at a press conference in Tenerife.

“Efforts are focused on preventing the fire from spreading and affecting mainly residential areas near the coast,” he added.

About 10 helicopters were dropping water and 150 firefighters and 50 soldiers were working to contain the forest fire that could take more than a day to control, authorities said.

By early Wednesday morning, the fire had devastated some 130 hectares (320 acres) near the Teide volcano, Spain’s highest peak. In a few hours, the fire has spread to more than 300 hectares and there are many secondary fires, said Pedro Martínez, head of Tenerife’s emergency services.

The towns of Arrate, Chivisaya, Media Montaña, Ajafoña and Las Lagunetas have been evacuated and local authorities said further measures will be taken during the day.

Rosa Dávila, president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, said that all access to the island’s mountains has been closed and asked residents and visitors to stay away from forest areas due to the risk of the fire spreading further.

“We are doing this to avoid any incident,” Dávila said.

Over the last week, a heat wave in the Canary Islands has left many areas dry and increased the risk of forest fires.

This summer, firefighters have extinguished a series of forest fires on the islands of Gran Canaria and The Palmthat are part of the Canary archipelago.

Tenerife’s two airports were operating normally, according to Radio Canarias, citing Spanish airport operator Aena.

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.