Tenerife fires - 14,000 evacuated. Fires seems stable though

in the recent few days a lot of terrible fires have caught on in Tenerife and other places on the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria).
Associated Press reports that 14,000 people have been evacuated in Canary Island fires

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain - At least 14,000 people have evacuated homes, hotels and campgrounds on the Canary Islands as firefighters struggled Tuesday to extinguish fires on two of the archipelago’s popular tourist spots.

The Tenerife fires seems to be the worst with the majority of people being evacuated here:

About 8,800 people were displaced on Tenerife island, where fires have burned 37,500 acres of mainly forest and destroyed 900 homes since Friday, the Canary Islands regional government said

Furtunatly no-one have been reported injured or dead from the Tenerife fires, so we’re of course very thankful.
The strong winds are making the fire fighting very very hard and:

Winds of 40 mph and temperatures up to 104 degrees were spreading the flames across the treetops. Tenerife authorities were fighting fires on four fronts, only one of which was under control. Many roads were closed.

Source: Yahoo news about the Tenerife fires

The Daily Express reports from the Tenerife fires that around 10,000 people have been evacuated from the Canary Islands and Tenerife fires. British tourists face a hard time in Tenerife now as a lot of people are being evacuated and Tenerife is a very popular vacation destination for Brits:

More than 10,000 people have been evacuated from homes and hotels on the popular holiday destinations of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

The reason behind the fires are the very high temperatures we’re having in Tenerife this time:

Summer temperatures of around 40 degrees have been exacerbated by strong winds, laying waste to large mountainous and pinewood areas and forcing the closure of several motorways on Tenerife.

TenerifeNews reports:

According to Ricardo Melchior, president of the Cabildo, the perimeter of the bush fire is reported to be 62.8kms covering an area of 13,695 hectares of pine woods, bushland and abandoned farmland although the president stressed that not all of the affected area had been burned and latest estimates put the figure at around 20 per cent of the total.

and quotes only around 8,500 people being evacuted in the Tenerife fires:

So far some 8,450 people have been evacuated from their homes.

Both the Tenerife airports are functioning 100% and flights are going in and out of Tenerife and the Canary Islands.

Unfortunately the Tenerife fire has apparently destroyed an entire town. Rian reports that Masca has been completely eaten by the flames:

“Masca, which is one of the most picturesque villages on the archipelago and a place of pilgrimage for thousands of tourists from all over the world, as well as its surrounding forests have been completely burned after all of its 120 citizens were evacuated Tuesday,” a correspondent for Canarias24horas newspaper told RIA Novosti.

The NASA picture below shows the smoke coming from the Canary fires and judging from the image, the situation seemed worst on Gran Canaria. The picture is taken of the Canary Islands on Tuesday, 31st of july 2007:

Follow Google Tenerife News and Yahoo Tenerife fires news for more information and keep the Canary Islands inhabitants on Tenerife and Gran Canaria in your thoughts please.

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