Mapped: Where are the wildfires in Tenerife?

Forest fires have ravaged the holiday hotspot of Tenerife, devastating thousands of hectares and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee.

The devastating fire has resulted in the evacuation of more than 12,000 people as photos show local residents flee in horror as plumes of smoke and fire rise behind them.

Orange flames lit the night sky on hillsides just above the lights of populated areas Saturday through Sunday, while thick black smoke billowed high into the air.

Late Saturday, emergency services said the fire was now affecting ten cities, although eleven had been evacuated as a precaution.

The fire covered an area of ​​over 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) with a circumference of 70 km (40 miles) and spread from 5,000 hectares and a circumference of 50 km early Saturday.

Canary Islands regional head Fernando Clavijo said the largest firefighting operation in Tenerife’s history has so far prevented the loss of homes.

Evacuations were ordered on Saturday due to deteriorating weather conditions. At a press conference, the head of Tenerife’s local government, Rosa Davila, described the fire as “devastating” and said it had prompted new evacuations.

But on Sunday morning, Ms Davila confirmed firefighters had helped contain the raging fire, saying: “The night was a very difficult one but thanks to the work of the firefighters the results have been very positive.”

The Canary Islands’ emergency services said in a tweet on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that firefighters were able to work in “better weather conditions than expected”.

Below is a map of the areas affected by the forest fire:

The fire broke out Wednesday in a mountainous national park surrounding Mount Teide, Spain’s highest peak.

Popular tourist areas in Tenerife, part of the Canary Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, have not been affected so far and the two airports have been operating normally.

“This is probably the most complicated fire we’ve had in the Canary Islands in at least 40 years, if not ever,” President Fernando Clavijo said earlier this week.

The fire burned in a forested area with steep valleys in the northeast of the island in the municipalities of Arafo, Candelaria, El Rosario, La Orotava, Santa Úrsula, La Victoria, El Sauzal and Tacoronte.

About 250 firefighters and members of the Spanish army have been battling the blaze, which is just 12 miles from the island’s capital, Santa Cruz.

Francisco Linares, Mayor of La Orotava, told Las Mañanas de RNE earlier this week: “It is the worst fire the island has suffered in the last 40 years. It affects 8 parishes, the perimeter exceeds 42 km and we have vertical walls “which are almost impossible to enter”.

“If you go outside, you start to suffocate. “It’s like having something stuck in your throat,” said Alba Gil, 37, a resident of the village of La Esperanza, where authorities earlier this week ordered people to stay home due to heavy smoke. She and her family stayed up until 4 a.m., terrified of the flames further up the mountain.

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands and lies off the northwest coast of Africa. The island’s tourism office stressed in a statement Thursday afternoon that the island’s main tourist areas and towns were away from the fire.

Last month, on another Spanish island, La Palma, a forest fire got out of control, causing the evacuation of at least 4,000 people.

The forest fire and evacuations came almost two years after a three-month volcanic eruption had wreaked havoc on La Palma. While no one was killed, around 3,000 buildings were buried along with many banana plantations, roads and irrigation systems.

A series of heat waves have hit southern Europe in recent weeks, causing record temperatures in certain areas of Spain, Greece, Italy and Albania.