The forest fire that has affected the northwest of the Spanish island of La Palma since Saturday, whose evolution during the night was favorable, has reignited in the upper part of the municipality of Tijarafe, and firefighters are working to prevent it from consolidating.
Quoted by the EFE agency, the director of firefighting operations, Rafael García, said that the next few hours are critical, because there is concern about a possible change in the wind at height that could cause problems if the reactivation of the fire is consolidated.
The eleven aerial means that have been working since Saturday to extinguish the fire started in Puntagorda (La Palma) threw a total of 352,000 liters of water into the flames, he added.
According to the Government of the Canary Islands, so far 4,255 people have been evacuated from the municipalities of Tijarafe and Puntagorda and in total, the fire affected some 4,675 hectares, according to the NASA satellite perimeter carried out on the night of the fire.
The La Palma fire was the consequence of a heat wave that reached other regions of the European continent, where experts believe that global warming is twice the world average, hitting several countries more intensely.
In Italy, 16 cities are on red alert across the country, and temperatures are expected to hit 36/37°C, but felt close to 40.
Regardless of the heat, according to the Vatican gendarmerie, 15,000 pilgrims and tourists flocked to St. Peter’s Square today to hear Pope Francis recite the Angelus prayer.
Among them was François Mbemba, a 29-year-old Congolese Democrat priest, who said the heat persists well into the night.
“We have trouble sleeping. And since we are dressed in black, we are sweating a lot. “It is difficult to adapt. It is hotter than in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” she says.
The Spanish meteorological agency has issued an orange alert today for Monday, warning of temperatures of 38° to 42° in large areas of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, a red alert (extreme danger) on Monday in areas of Andalusia, and on Tuesday in Aragon, Catalonia and Majorca (42 to 44).
In Romania, temperatures will approach 39 degrees on Monday.
In Greece, where a slight drop in temperatures is expected, the Acropolis of Athens was closed to the public today between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. local time.
Local authorities appealed to citizen prudence and warned of the high risk of fires.
In the United States, from Florida (southeast) to California (west) passing through Texas (south), much of the southern United States continued to register today a heat wave described as “oppressive” by meteorological services, which forecast several records. Of temperature
In the famous Death Valley, California, the thermometer rose to 51°C on Saturday night, while 54°C is expected today.
Even in the American continent, specifically in Canada, more than 10 million hectares have already burned this year, a total much higher than any other the country has seen, according to a balance that remains provisional, with 906 fires still active last year. Saturday. 570 of which are considered out of control, according to national data from the Canadian Interagency Wildfire Center (CIFFC).
Heat is one of the deadliest meteorological phenomena, as the World Meteorological Organization recently recalled.
Last summer, in Europe alone, high temperatures caused more than 60,000 deaths, according to a recent study.
Source: TSF
