‘Clumps of ash are falling from the sky’ around tourists amid Tenerife wildfires
A British tourist has described ‘blazing red flames’ raging near her hotel in Tenerife with firefighters using the resort as a rest point while they tackle the devastating wildfires.
Shirley Crowther and her 11-year-old son landed on the island yesterday to find ash clouds in the sky and emergency crews staying in the hotel as they fight the blazes in nearby mountains.
Shirley said she had not been given any warning about the fires from her tour operator, TUI, and only became aware of the situation as she looked out of the coach window while they were being transferred to their resort.
The foster carer described seeing ‘black ash literally falling from the sky’ at the Catalonia Punta del Rey in the Las Caletillas resort on the Canary Island’s north-east coast.
She said: ‘On the coach from the airport there were lots of patches of smoke up in the mountains and as we got nearer to the hotel we could see blazing red flames. There were helicopters here and there carrying and dropping water. The rep on the coach never said anything to us.
‘When we arrived at the hotel we found big clumps of black ash literally falling from the sky, it was horrendous. There was a big ash cloud above the hotel and the surrounding area. Even at this point we had no idea what was going on, we’ve not had anything from TUI.
‘I feel they should take some ownership of the situation and not even have brought us to the hotel quite frankly.’
Shirley, 59, and her son, who live near Guildford in Surrey, are on a week-long holiday on the island.
They arrived as emergency crews struggled to contain a wildfire reported to have a perimeter of 22 kilometres (14 miles) across dry woodland near the Mount Teide volcano. The blaze had spread to 1,800 hectares (4,450) acres across a national park as of yesterday, according to Reuters.
Ash from the fires fell on the swimming pool surface and sunbeds in Shirley’s hotel, a 15-minute drive from the island’s capital, Santa Cruz.
‘I’m going to see if TUI can find an alternative hotel although looking out from our balcony today it seems the fire has taken a grip much further towards the airport, which is the direction we came from,’ she said.
‘It’s just a sea of smog.’
The holidaymaker took pictures of exhausted firefighters clad in emergency suits using the hotel’s restaurant as they were drafted in to tackle the blaze.
‘I feel so sorry for the firefighters as it feels like they are fighting a losing battle,’ she said. ‘It’s devastating for the people who live in Tenerife.’
Leslie Brown is at the hotel as part of a family group of eight who arrived last Friday on a 10-day all-inclusive break with TUI.
Leslie, 40, from Folkestone, Kent, said: ‘It was raining tiny little bits of ash on Wednesday, it was not hot but everyone was covered in the stuff and if you went in the pool it was stuck to you, it was horrible.
‘They managed to clear up the pool so the children in our group are using it and we’re just trying to make the best of the holiday that we can.’
At least five villages have been evacuated after flames rapidly spread from a forested area in steep ravines near the volcano, Spain’s highest point.
Around 150 firefighters, 50 military personnel and 10 helicopters are battling the fires, which include multiple secondary blazes.
‘The fire is powerful and is in a complicated area,’ Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo told a news conference in Tenerife.
‘Efforts are focused on preventing the fire from spreading and affecting mainly residential areas close to the coast.’
During the past week, the Canary Islands have been hit by a heatwave with temperatures up to 35C (95F), leaving many areas bone dry.
The wildfires in Tenerife follow a series of blazes across Europe, north America and north Africa in recent weeks, including in Hawaii, where at least 106 people have died.
Metro.co.uk has approached TUI for comment.
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