Despite an easing of the situation in the past few days, the series of forest fires in Spain is not coming to an end. A fire in Tenerife caused concern on Sunday. The flames have already destroyed more than 2150 hectares on the Canary Island, which is popular with tourists, said regional president Ángel Víctor Torres late Saturday evening.
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585 residents of La Guancha and four other communities in the north of the island have been brought to safety. Numerous foreign hiking tourists were warned of the flames at the nearby Teide National Park.
The approximately 150 emergency services have recently made great progress in fighting the flames, also thanks to higher humidity and weaker winds. The temperature increase announced for Sunday and Monday up to 38 degrees is worrying. “So we have to put out the fire as soon as possible,” Torres said.
All forest fires in Spain have now been extinguished or largely under control – except for the fire in Tenerife and two fires that broke out on Saturday in Yunquera northeast of Madrid and in Olmeda del Rey southeast of the capital and were fought by a total of 235 emergency services on Sunday.
In combination with a drought that has lasted for months and strong winds, the heat has favored the outbreak and spread of many fires, according to the Aemet weather service. 2022 is already the most devastating forest fire year for Spain since records began. In the first seven months of the year, the flames destroyed around 200,000 hectares. These almost 2000 square kilometers correspond to about 80 percent of the area of Saarland.
Meanwhile, the fires in Greece continue to rage unabated. The massive fire in Dadia National Park in northeastern Greece continued to rage unchecked on Sunday. The village of Dadia was evacuated during the night, and in the morning the military and forest workers were deployed to cut aisles through the pine forests and thereby prevent the flames from spreading further.
Firefighting operations on the ground and in the air also continued. 320 firefighters were deployed with 68 fire engines. According to civil protection, almost all available fire-fighting helicopters and aircraft are currently in use nationwide.
A large fire on the south side of the holiday island of Lesvos also remained uncontrolled, where a village had already been evacuated the day before. Several houses and cars burned down. The region was recently hit by strong winds, which further fueled the flames.
According to the fire brigade, 141 fires were registered across Greece within 24 hours. Among other things, a substation of the state electricity company caught fire near the city of Larisa in Thessaly. For Sunday, the authorities continue to assess the risk of fire as high. Meteorologists announced high temperatures of up to 40 degrees and drought for the coming days up to the beginning of August.
A forest fire has also broken out in the Czech National Park Bohemian Switzerland. The fire extends over an area of around seven hectares not far from the Prebischtor, which is popular with tourists, the national park administration announced on Sunday.
Numerous firefighters fought the flames, and a police helicopter and a fire-fighting plane were also deployed. The Bohemian Switzerland National Park borders directly on the Saxon Switzerland on the German side.
