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Urgent events in the Canary Islands

We aim to collect and publish updates, from trustworthy news sources, regarding urgent events in the Canary Islands, so that residents and tourists alike can use this hub of information during an emergency and act as a record of events after the event has ended.

Official Accounts to Follow

1-1-2 Canarias

Civil Guard

President of Canary Government

Tenerife Forest Fire Resources

Tenerife’s 2023 wildfire was the most devastating fire in the Canary Islands in the last 40 years and the most severe in Spain in 2023; The fire affected nearly 15,000 hectares, burning 7% of the surface of Tenerife, and causing 80.4 million euros of damage. The forest fire has caused approximately 12 million euros of damage to the agricultural sector, including 2,500-3,500 hives that were destroyed. In addition, it caused more than 12,000 people to be evacuated throughout the fire, 364 farms and 246 buildings were affected. Up to 60 protected species may have been impacted by the forest fire, but the true impact on these species is not yet known.

When the forest fire was actively burning from August to October 2023, we stored tweets from official and useful accounts that were using the hashtags #IFArafoCandelaria #IFTenerife live to serve as updates to the events.

La Palma Eruption Day-by-Day

The volcanic eruption on La Palma was preceded by a seismic swarm starting on September 11th, and by September 19th the volcano, later named Tajogaite, started erupting. Over the following weeks and months, the lava flows continued to advance, encroaching over 900 hectares of land and destroying more than 1,000 buildings. The eruption was accompanied by earthquakes with magnitudes up to 5.1 mbLg, occasionally felt across multiple Canary Islands. 

Our Day-by-Day Eruption Updates from September 11th 2021 – December 25th 2021 includes:

  • Interactive map of lava flows and earthquakes each day
  • Summary of geological data released by IGN
  • Twitter posts made by official Canarian civil service accounts and scientists
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Hydroplanes in the Canary Islands

How does the Canadair CL-215T Seaplane of the #43 Air Force Group work?
This tweet from the Batallion T15 describes how the hydroplanes being used while fighting the forest fire in Tenerife works: 1. Telephone notice: A call from the General Directorate for Biodiversity warns of the existence of a fire. It will indicate who is the director of the mission, the place of the accident, and the conditions of the accident. 2. Water collection: once landed, the CL-215T is capable of collecting 6,000 liters of water in just 12 seconds and 400 meters. 3. Download and extinction: The discharge can be carried out with or without a foaming agent depending on the conditions of the fire.

In this Twitter thread, Fénix Canarias (Forestry Service of the Canary Islands) discusses why the Canary Islands do not have their own hydroplanes: With the cost of maintaining and flying a “seaplane”, we could maintain several helicopters which, in the Canary Islands, are more efficient. This is due to several complex factors:

  • Due to the orography of the islands and the small surface area of ​​the freshwater masses it contain, amphibious planes must descend to the coast to refill water in the sea, while helicopters can load rafts or ponds near the fire.
  • Where a plane takes about 15-20 minutes between loading and unloading, helicopters unload constantly.
  • The greater manoeuvrability of helicopters allows them to access areas where it would be dangerous for aeroplane pilots to try to access

La Palma Forest Fire Resources

Coming soon: La Palma Forest Fire Resources

Following temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius during July 2023, at least 2,000 people across Puntagorda and the neighbouring municipality Tijarafe were evacuated as a forest fire burned in El Pinar de Puntagorda, La Palma. As a result of the fire 12 homes and 4,500 hectares of land were burned.

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Coming Soon: La Palma Forest Fires