Military joins fight against new wildfire on Spain's Tenerife
Spain's military deployed Thursday to help battle a wildfire on the Canary Island of Tenerife, which reignited after ravaging thousands of hectares of land in August, officials said.
Some 120 people were battling the blaze in the northeast of the island, including 60 members of the army's Military Emergency Unit and 26 army vehicles, the unit wrote on the social media network X, formerly called Twitter.
The regional government of Tenerife requested assistance from the army late Wednesday as strong winds fanned the flames.
The fire forced the evacuation of some 3,000 people from the town of Santa Ursula, and another 200 from La Orotava, the regional government said.
Reactivación del incendio de Tenerife en la zona de Santa Úrsula #IFArafoCandelaria pic.twitter.com/x9gQFtrLWM
— Enrique Rodríguez (@rodriguezcoello) October 4, 2023
The blaze -- which first broke out on August 15 -- was declared under control on September 11 after destroying around 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of woodland, but was never fully put out.
The fire rekindled on Wednesday amid scorching temperatures in Tenerife, with the mercury nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of the island.
https://twitter.com/AlbaPerezL/status/1709575869847515585
"It is the same fire. We have to remember that it was declared under control but not extinguished," the director of Tenerife's emergency services, Ivan Martin, told local television, adding the fire was burning closer to built-up areas this time around.
Winds had died down in the morning, helping firefighters in the battle against the blaze, but they were forecast to pick up in the afternoon as temperatures soar.
https://twitter.com/avtorresp/status/1709913123036049844
Popular tourist areas on Tenerife, part of the Canaries archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, have so far been unaffected and its two airports have been operating normally.
The seven-island archipelago is located off the northwest coast of Africa and southwest of mainland Spain. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Morocco.
As global temperatures rise due to climate change, scientists have warned that heatwaves will become more frequent and more intense.
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Some 120 people were battling the blaze in the northeast of the island, including 60 members of the army's Military Emergency Unit and 26 army vehicles, the unit wrote on the social media network X, formerly called Twitter.
The regional government of Tenerife requested assistance from the army late Wednesday as strong winds fanned the flames.
The fire forced the evacuation of some 3,000 people from the town of Santa Ursula, and another 200 from La Orotava, the regional government said.
Reactivación del incendio de Tenerife en la zona de Santa Úrsula #IFArafoCandelaria pic.twitter.com/x9gQFtrLWM
— Enrique Rodríguez (@rodriguezcoello) October 4, 2023
The blaze -- which first broke out on August 15 -- was declared under control on September 11 after destroying around 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of woodland, but was never fully put out.
The fire rekindled on Wednesday amid scorching temperatures in Tenerife, with the mercury nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of the island.
https://twitter.com/AlbaPerezL/status/1709575869847515585
"It is the same fire. We have to remember that it was declared under control but not extinguished," the director of Tenerife's emergency services, Ivan Martin, told local television, adding the fire was burning closer to built-up areas this time around.
Winds had died down in the morning, helping firefighters in the battle against the blaze, but they were forecast to pick up in the afternoon as temperatures soar.
https://twitter.com/avtorresp/status/1709913123036049844
Popular tourist areas on Tenerife, part of the Canaries archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, have so far been unaffected and its two airports have been operating normally.
The seven-island archipelago is located off the northwest coast of Africa and southwest of mainland Spain. At their nearest point, the islands are 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Morocco.
As global temperatures rise due to climate change, scientists have warned that heatwaves will become more frequent and more intense.
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