Although the fire that rages on Tenerife on the Canary Islands isn't comparable in scope with Canada and Hawaii, it is nevertheless devastating.

So far, it has incinerated 8,400 hectares in extension and necessitated the evacuation of 12,279 people from its path. Furthermore, the Observatorio Meteorológico y el Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias also had to be evacuated.

Fortunately, weather conditions during Saturday night and Sunday morning were favourable to the efforts of those deployed to control and extinguish the fire, but even so, 343 personnel on the ground from both civilian and military firefighting units continue to battle it out.

During yesterday, 23 aircraft of both fixed-wing and rotary-wing type assaulted the forest fire, which has a 70-km perimeter.

The fire has raged since the 15th, affecting ten municipalities, with all efforts proving fruitless to control it, let alone put it out, according to the Autonomous Government of the Canary Islands.

However, although the southern flank is under control, thanks to fire-retardant chemicals mixed in with the water, the Santa Ursula front advances, owing to the area’s inaccessibility for wheeled vehicles and even those on foot.

All in all, the fire is considered the most complicated in nature in the last 40 years on the islands, according to the Canary Islands Prime Minister, Fernando Clavijo, adding that the fire is behaving like a Sixth Generation one.

Finally, to give some idea of the task, since the fire began on the 15th up to this Saturday, firefighting aircraft have made 1,700 aerial bombings, which is equivalent to 2,700,000 litres of water or 2,700 tonnes.

(News/Noticias: Tenerife, Canary Islands)