The scrub land fire which originated just after 9pm Friday night in an orchard in the Erjos area, a village located between the towns of Los Silos and El Tanque, has already affects 80 hectares of land.
The Tenerife Cabildo Forest Brigades (Brifor) are working to extinguish the fire, but the topography of the area, together with the current heat wave and prevailing winds, are hampering fire-fighting.
The alert came about 21.20 hours and originated in an area of ??orchards.
So far, the fire has affected heathland, laurel and eucalyptus.
About 300 residents of Erjos have been evacuated as a precaution.
At midday the Mayor of Los Silos announced that the fire has increased to level 2 and fire-fighting efforts are now under the direction of the Canarian Government.
Update 1pm Saturday:
- A further 200 people have been evacuated from their homes in San José de Los Llanos
- Orange Alert for temperatures as high as 40c
- TF-82 closed at Erjos
- IX Subida al Panadero hill climb cancelled as a preventative measure
- Titsa announce bus 355 can only travel between Buenavista and Masca. the 460 service between Icod and Las Americas is suspended
- The public are being asked to avoid driving in the north-west area of the island
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