Moment Tenerife wildfire rips through forest before thousands are evacuated on popular holiday island for Brits

• Hundreds of firefighters and soldiers have been deployed to tackle the blaze
• It comes after huge fires burned through much of the island in August 

Some 3,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes overnight as yet another wildfire began tearing through parts of Tenerife, one of the most popular tourist destinations of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Hundreds of firefighters and soldiers have been deployed to tackle the blaze which was reignited on Wednesday after the island faced horrific fires throughout the month of August.

Those fires were the worst to hit the beloved tourist destination in decades – the inferno completely wiped out 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) of pine forest and scrubland and forced 12,000 people to abandon their homes, some for several weeks.

Although the August blazes were eventually brought under control, it was never fully extinguished. 

Small fires have continued to break out periodically in the same area due to winds and high temperatures – conditions that allowed Wednesday’s fire to increase in ferocity and sparked the evacuation.

So far, an area of just 30 hectares (70 acres) has been affected, but there are fears it could spread further because the island, like the rest of Spain, has been experiencing an intense drought for several years and unusually high temperatures so far in October.

Some 3,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes overnight as yet another wildfire began tearing through parts of Tenerife

Hundreds of firefighters and soldiers have been deployed to tackle the blaze

So far, an area of just 30 hectares (70 acres) has been affected and firefighters are battling to keep the blaze contained 

A firefighter plane discharges water over Guimar, as wildfires rage out of control on the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain August 22, 2023

A handout photo made available by the Military Emergency Unit (UME) shows an UME member working to extinguish the forest fire in Arafo-Candelaria, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 21 August 2023

The fresh blaze is affecting the towns of Santa Ursula and La Orotava in the mountainous northeast of the island, away from the main tourist areas in Tenerife’s southwest. 

In August, some 12,000 were evacuated from Tenerife as ‘out of control’ wildfires ravaged the island.

It was a particularly bad month for wildfires with much of Greece also succumbing to out of control blazes.

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.

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