Tenerife chief says blazes could last for months but 'island is safe to visit'
A wildfire that forced hundreds of people to flee will rage for months, an emergency service coordinator in Tenerife has warned.
Soldiers and firefighters have been hard at work battling to control a new wildfire on Spain's Tenerife island which has forced some 3,000 people to leave their homes for safety. The blaze, which started on Wednesday, is affecting the towns of Santa Ursula and La Orotava in the mountainous northeast of the island, away from the main tourist areas in Tenerife's southwest.
The same area suffered one of the island's worst wildfires in decades in August when 14,000 hectares of pine forest and scrubland were burned and some 12,000 residents evacuated over several weeks. Although that wildfire was brought under control it was never fully extinguished. Small fires have continued to break out periodically in the same area due to winds and high temperatures.
Carlo Brusini, an emergencies specialist for the Canary Islands government, has been helping coordinate some of the 500 troops fighting the flames and evacuating residents this week. He told the Mirror that the fires are likely to rage for several months more and show no sign of being put out.
The fire could rage for months, according to the emergency coordinator (Carlobrusini/Twitter)
The blaze has already been raging for most of the summer (Carlobrusini/Twitter)"The fire continues, and it is foreseeable that it will still take months until it can be extinguished. It must rain enough to cool the entire terrain. With the fall, some rain is expected, but it (may not) rain enough to help completely extinguish the fire. There is underground fire and large logs burning slowly. It is complex," he explained in Spanish.
'I stayed in a Tenerife hotel that's definitely for stress-free family holidays'
Luckily the woodland area that is ablaze is fairly remote, leading only a farm and a small number of properties to be damaged. Carlo, who also helped in the emergency response to the 2021 Palma volcanic eruption, said it was "shocking" to see the fires rage with no way to fully put them out.
When asked whether it was safe for holidaymakers to visit the island, Carlo insisted that it was. "It is totally safe to visit Tenerife. There are only some areas closed for safety reasons as there may be some falling trees or falling stones due to the normal erosion of the fire," he said.
His sentiments were echoed by a spokesperson for British Airways, who said none of the firm's hotels or holidays are close to the impacted area. A Ryanair representative said its flights are currently operating as normal to and from Tenerife, and that its aircraft fly to Tenerife South Airport which has not been impacted by the wildfires to the north.
An easyJet spokesperson added: "Flights and package holidays to and from Tenerife are currently operating as normal however we continue to closely monitor the situation and the advice of the relevant authorities. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is easyJet's highest priority."
The island, in the Atlantic off Africa's northwestern coast, is on alert for high temperatures that are expected to reach 39C throughout Thursday. The island, like the rest of Spain, has been experiencing an intense drought for several years and unusually high temperatures so far in October.
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