Staff Writer
The regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, announced on Sunday that police had determined that the Tenerife wildfire was intentionally sparked.
Clavijo stated that three lines of inquiry had been initiated by the police but did not specify whether any arrests had been made.
Authorities said Sunday that better weather conditions helped firefighters make strides in their fight to contain the inferno that has raged out of control for the past five days.
The governor of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, stated at a news conference that “the night was very difficult, but thanks to the work of the firefighters, the results have been very positive.”
Like the majority of mainland Spain, the Canary Islands have experienced drought for the most of the last few years.
In recent years, the islands have seen rainfall that was below average due to weather patterns that have changed as a result of climate change.
The regional government ordered the evacuation of a state-run hotel in the Teide volcano national park, in central Tenerife, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the fire zone, despite the fact that the fire in the northeast of the island is not close to the main tourist destinations in the southwest. The number of guests at the hotel was not immediately clear.
Since the fire started on Tuesday, more than 12,000 individuals, according to Dávila, have been forced to leave their homes. Emergency services for the islands reported that a pine forest and scrubland totaling 11,600 hectares (29,000 acres) had burnt.
No injuries have yet been noted, and according to Dávila, no homes have yet been burned, all thanks to the firefighters.
The eleven urban areas that flank a steep and rocky mountain area are under threat from the fire, which has been called the deadliest to hit Tenerife in decades. Firefighters have very limited access.
Emergency services advised residents to stay indoors when possible and use masks outside due to poor air quality in 19 town districts.
23 water-carrying helicopters and planes have also been sent out, in addition to more than 400 firefighters and soldiers.
On Sunday through Thursday, another heat wave is expected to hit mainland Spain.
According to Spain’s official weather office, certain areas of the mainland will experience temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday and Thursday.
The agency forecasted average weekly maximum temperatures of 30 C (86 F) for Tenerife.
Spain tops the list of EU nations impacted by wildfires so far this year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System, with 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) destroyed, ahead of Italy and Greece.
A wildfire that scorched 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres) of land nearby on the island of La Palma last month forced the evacuation of over 2,000 inhabitants.
According to the EU agency, Spain was responsible for roughly 40% of the nearly 800,00 hectares (2 million acres) that were burned throughout the European Union in 2022.
The seven Canary Islands are situated southwest of mainland Spain and off the northwest coast of Africa. They are 100 kilometers (60 miles) away from Morocco at their closest point.
