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Fierce flames lit up the night sky late overnight from Friday to
Saturday.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday in a mountainous national park
around the Mount Teide volcano - Spain's highest peak - amid hot
and dry weather.
Regional leader Fernando Clavijo, speaking late on Friday, said
some 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) were affected with a
perimeter of 50 km (30 miles), and 7,000 people were evacuated
or confined to their homes.
Earlier in the week, Clavijo called the fire the most complex
the Canary Islands have faced in 40 years, due to a combination
of hot, dry and windy weather, as well as difficult terrain.
More evacuations were ordered on Saturday morning due to
worsening weather conditions overnight.
"The weather has changed and we have had to evacuate towns in
the north of Tenerife, specifically five areas," Manuel Miranda,
regional councilor for Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion
and Water, told reporters on Saturday.
Miranda said temperatures had risen overnight, while humidity
had dropped and the wind had increased.
He said more evacuations had been necessary because of the
"danger and proximity of the fire", adding that so far
authorities "have avoided any human loss... and that is our main
objective".
The island's popular tourist areas have so far been unaffected
and its two airports have been operating normally.
Scorching heat and dry weather this summer have contributed to
unusually severe wildfires in Europe and Canada. Blazes on
Hawaii's Maui island earlier this month killed more than 110
people and wrecked the historic resort city of Lahaina.
Scientists say climate change has led to more frequent and more
powerful extreme weather events.
(Reporting by Nacho Doce, Writing by Jessica Jones; editing by
Clelia Oziel)
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