(Tenerife) The 3,200 inhabitants of Tenerife evacuated due to the resumption of a major fire on this island of the Spanish archipelago of the Canaries were authorized on Friday to return to their homes, the fire having reduced in intensity, according to the authorities.
“The developments of recent hours and the work of the firefighting system in Tenerife allow us to lower” the level of danger of the fire from 2 to 1, announced on X the head of the regional government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo.
“The evacuated people” can therefore “return to their homes,” added the elected official, nevertheless calling for “precaution” to be exercised.
The fire, in progress since August 15, but considered “under control” since September 11, suddenly reactivated on Wednesday due to wind and high temperatures, rising to level 2 on a dangerousness scale of up to 3.
This led the authorities to order the evacuation of 3,200 residents of the town of Santa Ursula and the neighboring town of La Orotava on Wednesday evening. Resources in the area had also been reinforced, with the arrival of firefighters from the Military Emergency Unit (UME).
“Air and land resources continue to work on site,” assured the head of Tenerife’s local government, Rosa Davila, on X.
According to the authorities, 120 firefighters supported by nine helicopters are mobilized to fight the fire, located in a rugged area in the northeast of the island.
Between August 15 and early September, the latter had ravaged 15,000 hectares of land, or 7% of the surface area of Tenerife.
The island has experienced larger fires in recent years in terms of burned surface area, but the weather conditions and topography had led authorities to say that the archipelago was facing its “most complicated” fire since 40 years.
In 2022, 300,000 hectares were destroyed by more than 500 fires in Spain, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).