BRIT holidaymakers in Tenerife have been given an urgent warning after a huge wildfire has erupted.
Five villages have been evacuated on the Spanish island which attracts a large number of tourists each year.
GettyThe wildfire has already spread across 800 hectares of land[/caption]
GettyResidents in five villages have been told to evacuate[/caption]
GettyFirefighters on the ground have been hampered in their efforts to contain the blaze due to the woodland and steep terrain[/caption]
The blaze has already spread across 800 hectares since it began at a nature reserve on the north-east coast on Tuesday evening.
Authorities have stopped access to the forest around the Mount Teide volcano on the island and have confirmed a secondary fires have now broken out.
Helicopters have been brought in to spray water over the flames.
Firefighters on the ground have had difficulty fighting the fire due to the woodland and ravines in the Candelaria and Arafo areas.
President of the Tenerife Council Rosa Davila told local radio: “The blaze has a huge potential, we have asked for additional means.”
She added that aircraft were necessary because of the steep terrain.
On Wednesday morning the villages of Arrate, Chivisaya, Media Montaña, Ajafoña and Las Lagunetas were evacuated.
Head of Tenerife’s emergency services Pedro Martinez said a number of secondary fires had also broken out.
Shocking photos show huge flames covering parts of the forest with thick smoke rising up in the air.
So far, there does not appear to be any disruption to either arrivals or departures at Tenerife’s South and North airports.
The risk of wildfires breaking out was increased after the Canary Islands suffered a heatwave which left large areas bone dry.
Residents on the nearby island of La Palma, also part of the Canary Island off the coast of northern Africa, were told last month to evacuate due to a wildfire during a period of scorching temperatures.
Weather experts have declared 2023 an El Niño year – a natural phenomenon that occurs cyclically and causes fluctuations in the global climate.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said it will raise temperatures around the world, and the effect is likely to continue for the rest of the year.
And despite the heat this summer, Europe’s record temperature of 48.8C – recorded in 2021 in Sicily – has not been reached and is currently not forecast to be broken.
Just days ago, around 650 French firefighters were brought in to tackle a fierce wildfire which had broken out in the southern Pyrenees region close to the seaside resort of Argelès-sur-Mer.
The blaze ripped through 1,235 acres, destroying 30 houses, a warehouse, and an entire campsite, while also leaving a firefighter in a critical condition in hospital.
Last week, firefighters battled another wildfire near the southwestern city of Bordeaux that forced around 8,000 people to flee.
France is in the middle of its fourth heat wave of the year, while blazes have also devastated large parts of Greece, Italy, Algeria and Tunisia.
Wildfires have also broken out in northern Africa, Canada and Hawaii.
A man flees with his pup for safetyEPA
GettyLarge clouds of smoke have been billowing into the sky[/caption]