Source:
GuardianTuesday July 31, 2007 9:01 PM
By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS
Associated Press Writer
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain (AP) - At least 14,000 people have evacuated homes, hotels and campgrounds on the Canary Islands as firefighters struggled Tuesday to extinguish fires on two of the archipelago's popular tourist spots.
About 8,800 people were displaced on Tenerife island, where fires have burned 37,500 acres of mainly forest and destroyed 900 homes since Friday, the Canary Islands regional government said. On Gran Canaria island, some 25,000 acres of woodland were charred, and 5,200 people evacuated as at least 60 homes were engulfed by flames.
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Winds of 40 mph and temperatures up to 104 degrees were spreading the flames across the treetops. Tenerife authorities were fighting fires on four fronts, only one of which was under control. Many roads were closed.
On Gran Canaria, fires have burned 65 percent of the Palmitos bird sanctuary park, and authorities feared that toucans and other exotic birds may have been killed, the national news agency Efe reported. Army troops, along with eight firefighting aircraft, were trying to smother the blaze.
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England drowns and Spain burns while France swelters.