“The worst is over,” said Canary Islands Prime Minister Fernando Clavijo on Monday. It cannot yet be said that the fire is under control. But they are in the process of “stabilizing it on all fronts,” emphasized Clavijo.
It is hoped that many of the approximately 13,000 evacuees will be able to return to their homes in the affected north and north-east of the island as early as Monday. Before Clavijo, firefighting chief Federico Grillo had expressed similar confidence. “The potential of the fire is decreasing,” Grillo was quoted as saying by the regional newspaper “El Día”. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez flew to the island on Monday to see the situation on the spot and promised help with reconstruction. “All of Spain is on the side of the Canary Islands and Tenerife,” said the socialist.
Photo gallery: Forest fires are raging on the holiday island of Tenerife
(Photo: AFP/DESIREE MARTIN) Bild 1/11
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“May the weather be on our side,” Sanchez said. His government will classify the regions affected by the fire as disaster areas, said Sánchez in the fire-hit village of Arafo. This enables emergency grants and other support measures. “The Spanish government will be as involved in the reconstruction work as it is now in the task of civil protection.”
12,800 hectares burned
So far, the flames have covered a good 12,800 hectares of nature in the north and north-east of Tenerife, which corresponds to around 18,000 football pitches or around six percent of the territory of the Spanish Atlantic island. A spread has not been registered since Sunday evening. According to official estimates, around 13,000 people followed the authorities’ call for evacuation. A few hundred could have returned to their homes on Sunday, it said.
Clavijo had already spread hope on Sunday evening. Thanks to the excellent work of the fire crews and the better climatic conditions, the fire is being brought under control on several flanks, he said. The winds would become weaker, the temperatures lower and the humidity higher.
Hundreds of firefighters on duty
The Tenerife fire brigade spoke on Twitter (X) of a “quiet night” without any particular incidents. The flames are being fought by more than 300 emergency services, some of whom work non-stop at night. After daybreak, fire-fighting planes and helicopters were deployed again. Their number has since been increased to 24. According to authorities, the fire has not destroyed a house so far. So there were no injuries.
According to the Canary Islands’ heads of government, this is one of the worst fires in Tenerife in the past 40 years. Police now believe the fire was caused by arson. Prime Minister Clavijo hopes that the perpetrator or perpetrators can be identified soon.
