Today is being heralded as “the beginning of the end” of the forest fire in Tenerife, as firefighters and the emergency services say that today is a key day and that if weather conditions stay as they are, they will have the fire ‘stabilised’ by tonight.
After eight days of fighting the fire, they are ‘cautiously optimistic that the flames that have covered almost 15,000 hectares of forest will be put out. This does not mean the fire is extinguished as a change in weather could reignite it in seconds, but it does mean it's more controlled and makes their job easier.
The fire, which has raged in Tenerife for nine days, has begun to show signs of weakness, and 20 helicopters and seaplanes will continue once again with the hundreds of runs dropping millions of litres of water onto the hotspots as the whole area needs to be continually watered and cooled.
The latest figures show that almost 15,000 hectares have been burned inside a perimeter of 90 kilometres, with nearly 3,000 hectares of the Teide National Park affected and 10,000 of the forest crown. This all means immense damage to biodiversity, which, without a doubt, could have been much worse if not for our hero extinguishing teams.
