a fire without control forces to evacuate a part of the paradise island Gran Canaria

Flames up to 50 meters and protected natural areas affected: the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, a tourist island, undergoes in less than 10 days its third forest fire, which remains uncontrollable.

According to the emergency services, this fire, reported Saturday, has already affected 6,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of 9,000 people.

In some areas, the fire "has no more potential for extinction," said Sunday evening Federico Grillo, head of emergency services on the Canary Island, located in the Atlantic off the northwestern coast of Africa.

The flames reached 50 meters high in some places, making it difficult to deploy about 700 firefighters and other mobilized troops, as well as nearly fifteen days of air badets to fight the fire.

"It's a very bad situation, very serious, we have at least two days," acknowledged Grillo, at a time when high temperatures, winds and ash rains can cause new outbreaks.

The authorities have been forced to carry out further evacuations in the center of the island, which has many protected areas.

A hundred people had to be "confined" in a cultural center of Artenara, a "temporary technical decision" according to the emergency services, given the danger of using access to the population and the evacuation routes.

In total, the population of the evacuated areas amounts to 9,000 inhabitants, without the authorities being able to specify the exact number of people concerned.

Until now, no casualties have been recorded.

Protected areas at risk

The interior of Gran Canaria, rich in landscapes and very diverse microclimates, attracts hikers, while most tourists frequent the beaches of the island, the second most visited of the archipelago.

With a mild climate and spectacular volcanic landscapes, the Canary Islands welcomed 13.7 million foreign visitors in 2018, half of whom are British or German.

Tourism accounted for 35% of its GDP in 2017 and 40% of archipelago jobs, according to the Exceltur employers' organization.

However, the Canaries regional government said in a statement that tourism was not affected by the fire because "no tourist complex has felt its effects".

But several protected areas have been affected or threatened by the flames.

It was already spread over an area clbadified as a biosphere reserve by Unesco and entered the Tamadaba Natural Park, a reserve of indigenous pines that is one of the wildest areas of Gran Canaria.

The affected territory also includes the landscape of mountains and caves of Risco Caído, an area that brings together the remains of a 15th century indigenous culture inscribed in July on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

According to Federico Grillo, the fire threatens to advance in the reserve of Inagua, the region richest in biodiversity and the most protected.

Two other fires affected the island last week, causing no injuries. Firefighters had not completely extinguished the larger of the two, which covered 1,500 hectares when the new fire was declared.

Spain, the world's second-largest tourist destination, suffers many forest fires each summer due to its arid climate. (AFP-NA)