MADRID, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The wildfire which began on Saturday on the Spanish holiday island of Gran Canaria has been stabilized after burning for five days, President of the Canary Islands Angel Victor Torres has confirmed.
Speaking at a press conference late on Wednesday, Torres explained that the fire, which is the largest to have affected Spain this year, had not caused any human casualties, although it has affected around 9,200 hectares of woodland and scrub in the northwest of the island.
"The fire is still alive, now we have to finish it off," said Torres. The fire currently has a perimeter of 112 kilometers -- around 8 percent of the entire island.
Torres explained that around 1,000 firefighters along with the aid of 11 helicopters and five aircraft had used around a million liters of water to combat the fire, which at times produced flames up to 50 meters high.
The cause of the fire was still investigated by Civil Guards with difficulties in accessing the area where it began.
Technical Director of the Emergency Services on Gran Canaria, Federico Grillo warned that a predicted return to the hot, dry and windy conditions of the weekend could lead to the fire being reactivated after two days in which cooler and damper conditions helped firefighters.
"If all goes well, it will be controlled in a couple of days, although not out entirely; that will take longer... We can't allow our guard to drop or to get overconfident," added Grillo.
Wednesday saw around 7,500 of the 10,000 people who have been evacuated from 48 different municipalities allowed to return to their homes after spending up to four nights in temporary shelters.
