Emergency services said today on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that they had requested assistance from the army’s military emergency unit, citing the blaze, which ignited yesterday, as a high-level emergency.

The August wildfire in Tenerife burned for days, destroying some 15,000 hectares of woodland within the national park surrounding the Mount Teide volcano, Spain’s highest peak. Thousands were also evacuated then, with most returning to their homes.

The Canary Islands’ regional leader, Fernando Clavijo, told a business event in Madrid today that the August fire had been brought under control but never completely extinguished, with embers still burning in the forest.

He said firefighting efforts overnight had “gone well”.

“There is less fuel (for the fire), so it shouldn’t get out of hand,” Clavijo said, referring to the already scorched terrain.

The island, in the Atlantic off Africa’s northwestern coast, is on alert for high temperatures that are expected to reach 39 °Celsius throughout today.