A fire still in progress, Sunday July 15 in the afternoon, destroyed nearly 5,000 hectares of vegetation in less than 36 hours on the island of La Palma, in the Canary archipelago, in Spain. The heat detected on site, more than 40°C on Friday then 33°C on Saturday, when the first flames were observed, slowed the action of the firefighters mobilized.
The president of the regional executive, Ferdando Clavijo, announced on Saturday evening that the order had been given to evacuate 4,000 people in two localities, Tijarafe and Puntagorda. The drop in temperature observed overnight from Saturday to Sunday helped facilitate the action of the authorities and the fight against the fire.
“The night passed normally, the weather situation helped us a lot, the temperatures dropped considerably”, welcomed Sergio Rodriguez, the president of the island “cabildo” of La Palma, the governing body of the island, in a video shared on social networks. “As a result, the flames slowed down and the 100s hard at work in the area managed to contain the perimeter,” he added.
“We are confident that in the next few hours, days, we can put an end to this fire,” the Spanish government’s minister of tourism, industry and trade told state television TVE. , Héctor Gómez, who went there. He estimated the area burned at “nearly 5,000 hectares”.
In 2022, nearly 500 fires devoured more than 300,000 hectares in Spain, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System – 66,000 hectares have already burned since the start of 2023, which promises to be just as risky for this country hit hard by climate change. The spring was the hottest on record and the second driest, according to the Spanish meteorological agency.
