The fire, that began on Saturday, was preceded by two other fires, on the Gran Canaria tourist island, that have not yet been put out completely, although they are under control.
Efforts to put out wildfire in Gran Canaria are met with harsh conditions. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Around 4,000 people have been evacuated from several areas of Spain’s Gran Canaria Islands due to a large wildfire that has spread to more than 3,400 hectares. The fires reportedly started on Saturday in the mountainous region of the island.
The blaze continues untamed in the Tamadaba Natural Park in the Northeast of Gran Canaria Island which has been declared a Biosphere Reserve. With high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds the conditions seem to get worse for any operation to blow out the fire.
Some 400 personnel worked overnight to contain the fire as well as the right and left flanks while the fire continued to spread across the park. At least 40 rescued people spent the night at the cultural centre in the Artenara municipality and will be allowed to leave as soon as the situation allows it.
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The fire, that began on Saturday, was preceded by two other fires, on the Gran Canaria tourist island, that have not yet been put out completely, although they are under control. The recent incident had destroyed around 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of land and closed 11 roads.
The biggest of the two fires spread to nearly 1,200 hectares of forest area and forced the evacuation of nearly a thousand people from several localities. While the other burnt 160 hectares of scrubland.
Gran Canaria is a Spanish holiday island known for its variety of terrains and has a history of being colonised by European powers like Britain, and France among others.
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