The flames spread extremely quickly. Wind fans the fire on the holiday island of La Palma. The government has declared the highest alert level.
La Palma – A forest fire is raging on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain). Hundreds of emergency services have been fighting tirelessly against the flames since Saturday. Ground forces worked throughout the night to contain the fire. Since dawn, eleven planes have been clearing from the air. This is reported by the Canary Islands’ national emergency service on Twitter.
La Palma: Fire on holiday island “out of control” – 4,600 people evacuated
Within a few hours, the fire spread to the Canary Island of La Palma. Meanwhile, more than 4,700 hectares of land have burned down so far. 4,000 residents were evacuated and thirteen houses were destroyed by the fire, reports the local news portal eldiario.es and the Spanish newspaper El País on Sunday morning. More people are expected to leave their homes. Local media reports that some residents have refused to comply with the evacuation.
Wind fuels fire on La Palma: “The fire spreads very quickly”
Wind fanned the flames again and again. “The fire is spreading very quickly,” said the President of the Canary Islands Regional Government, Fernando Clavijo on Saturday evening. In a broad front it moved towards the city of Tijarafe. Clavijo explained that despite the “insatiability of the fire” in the first few hours, it managed to contain the perimeter even if it remained “out of control”. The flames would be favored “by the wind, the climate, the heat wave,” Clavijo told journalists.
Because of fire on La Palma – highest alert level on the Canary Islands
According to the authorities, the fire broke out near the town of Puntagorda in the northwest of the island. Concern is growing that the fire could also spread to the national park.
The government of the Canary Island has declared the highest alert level due to the risk of forest fires on the islands of El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma – for the regions not yet affected by the forest fire. In Gran Canaria, the warning level applies from a height of 400 meters above sea level.
After all, the weather on La Palma is currently playing along. Temperatures are dropping and humidity is now around 60 percent, reports canariasahora on Sunday morning (July 16). According to the authorities, this slowed the flames down. It remains to be hoped that the situation will continue to develop positively and that the fire will be contained. An unusual heat wave had hit Spain and the island in the past few days.
The volcanic eruption on La Palma (September 19, 2021) has already caused gigantic damage on the Spanish Canary Island. (ml)
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