Spain's Tenerife Island remains on alert after wildfire forces 3,000 to evacuate amid raging temperature | Updates
Emergency Evacuations on Tenerife
A wildfire unexpectedly erupted on Wednesday, sending shockwaves through Spain's holiday island of Tenerife. Approximately 3,000 people were swiftly evacuated from their residences, with firefighting teams and six helicopters equipped for water drops deployed to battle the flames.
The wildfire ignited in a hilly area in the northeast of the island, an area previously devastated by a colossal wildfire in August. While popular tourist spots remained unaffected, the region declared the blaze a high-level emergency, prompting the deployment of military assistance from the army’s Military Emergency Unit.
Efforts to Control the Blaze
Soldiers and firefighters worked tirelessly to contain the fire, which erupted in the town of Santa Ursula, situated away from the island's primary tourist zones. As a precaution, an additional 600 residents from the neighboring town of La Orotava were instructed to evacuate.
Lope Afonso, Vice President of the regional government of Tenerife, reported that around 2,400 people from Santa Ursula and another 600 from La Orotava had been evacuated.
Stabilizing the Fire
Blanca Perez, the island's emergency management councilor, stated that the core of the fire had been stabilized. The authorities were closely monitoring its progression to assess when residents could safely return to their homes.
Extreme Heat Alert
The outbreak of the wildfire occurred while Tenerife and the nearby island of Gran Canaria were under a heat alert. Temperatures soared above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), an unusual occurrence for this time of year, typically associated with the height of summer.
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