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SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands — The regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said on Sunday that police confirmed that a forest fire raging in the Spanish resort island of Tenerife was started deliberately.
Clavijo said police had opened three lines of investigation, but he did not say if there were any arrests.
Better weather conditions helped firefighters make progress overnight in their battle to control the blaze that has raged out of control for the past five days, authorities said Sunday.
“The night was very difficult but thanks to the work of the firefighters the results have been very positive,” said the governor of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, at a press conference.
The Canary Islands have been in drought for most of the last few years, as has most of mainland Spain. The islands have recorded below-average rainfall in recent years due to changes in weather patterns affected by climate change.
Although the fire in the northeast of the island is not close to the main tourist areas in the southwest, the regional government ordered the evacuation of a state hotel in the Teide volcano national park, in the center of Tenerife, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the fire zone. It was not immediately clear how many people were staying at the hotel.
Dávila said more than 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes since the fire started Tuesday. The islands’ emergency services said on Sunday that 29,000 acres (11,600 hectares) of pine forest and scrub had burned.
No injuries have yet been reported and Dávila said that thanks to the firefighters, so far no houses have been burned.
The fire, described as the worst in Tenerife in decades, threatens 11 areas of the city that flank a rugged, rugged mountainous area. Access for firefighters is extremely difficult.
Emergency services said air quality in 19 areas of the city was not good and urged people to stay indoors when possible and wear masks outdoors.
More than 400 firefighters and soldiers have been deployed, as well as 23 helicopters and water-carrying planes.
Mainland Spain is preparing for another heat wave from Sunday that will last until Thursday. Spain’s state weather service said temperatures would gradually rise to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in parts of the mainland on Wednesday and Thursday.
In Tenerife, the agency forecast average highs of 30C (86F) for the coming week.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System, Spain tops the list of EU countries affected by forest fires so far this year, with 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) burned, ahead of Italy and Greece.
More than 2,000 people were evacuated in a forest fire on the nearby island of La Palma last month that affected some 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres).
Spain accounted for almost 40% of the nearly 800,00 hectares (2 million acres) burned in the European Union in 2022, the EU agency said.
The seven Canary Islands are located off the northwest coast of Africa and southwest of mainland Spain. At their closest, they are 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Morocco.
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Ciarán Giles reported from Madrid
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