The Spanish island of Tenerife still under fire, over 26,000 people evacuated.

The residents of the Canary Islands have been facing a massive fire since Tuesday, which has already devastated thousands of hectares on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

In the face of this fire, “probably the most complex” of the last few decades, according to the president of the regional government, more than 26,000 people have been evacuated, the rescue services reported on Saturday.

Around 26,000 people have been forced to flee the vast fire raging on the Spanish island of Tenerife, the rescue services announced on Saturday.

“Provisional estimates suggest that over 26,000 people have been evacuated,” the rescue services wrote on the X network (formerly Twitter), as the fire spread during the night from Friday to Saturday due to particularly difficult weather conditions.

The fire, which broke out in a mountainous area in the northeast of the island, spread during the night from Friday to Saturday due to particularly difficult weather conditions, with strong winds and higher temperatures than expected.

According to the authorities, this is “the most complex” fire in the Canary Islands in the last four decades.

On Friday evening, the authorities reported approximately 4,500 people evacuated since the start of the fire. But on Saturday morning, five new municipalities were evacuated in the area.

The head of the forest services, Pedro Martinez, said on Saturday at noon to journalists that the perimeter of the fire had “almost certainly increased significantly” during the night and that it was “regularly descending” the mountain in the Santa Ursula region (northeast).AFP