The Tenefire wildfire is “beyond our capabilities”, the chief firefighter on the island, Pedro Martínez, has stated.
26,000 people have now been evacuated from towns and villages near the huge wildfire, which has been described as “A fire of another dimension, never before seen on the Canaries” by Rosa Davíla, President of Tenerife’s Cabildo.
Winds, high temperatures and low humidity have resulted in the fire “exceeding all our forecasts”, according to the Canarian President Fernando Clavijo, and the outlook is for the rest of the weekend offer little grounds for hope that the weather may improve.
The steep, hilly wooded area where the fire is raging and unpredictable winds have made the work of land-based firefighters difficult, while hydroplanes have been affected by the huge plume of smoke.
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