The Tenerife Cabildo have reported that a forest fire broke out last night at 11:50pm in the vicinity of Chivisaya, on the Los Loros to Los Brezos highway in Candelaria. Firefighting teams have been tackling the blaze all night and some roads have been closed and villages evacuated already.
The TF-24 highways between Las Lagunetas and El Portillo and the TF-523, Carretera Los Loros, have been closed since 5:20 this morning and people from Arrate, Chivisaya, Media Montaña, and Ajafoña have been evacuated from the area as a precautionary measure.
The Cabildo have declared the fire as a Level 2 emergency so the General Directorate of Security and Emergencies for the Canary Islands Government have taken over the responsibility of tackling it and using their resources to control it as soon as possible.
They have already said that with the sunrise and the exposure to the east of the area of the fire, it is expected to spread quickly up the mountain, and you can already see the large plume of smoke it is generating on weather maps.
Although temperatures are expected to be slightly lower today, the wind on that coast that is accompanying the heatwave is what is the firefighters' enemy, as that is what spreads the fire quicker than anything else.
Updates to follow...
