Canary Island fires 'controlled'

The fires destroyed dozens of homes on the Atlantic island

Firefighters have mastered the second of two forest blazes that have burned since last week on the Spanish holiday island of La Palma, officials say.

Cooler weather, lighter winds and some rainfall meant the second fire was brought under control on Tuesday, a day after the first was controlled.

The two blazes forced 4,000 people from their homes, ravaged swathes of pine forest and destroyed dozens of houses.

Some 600 firemen, rangers and soldiers from across Spain fought the flames.

Nine water-carrying planes helped to contain the fires, which tore through some 2,600 hectares of pine forest on La Palma - one of the greenest of the Canary Islands.

The Canary Islands' Justice Minister Jose Miguel Ruano said on Tuesday the second front, which had been threatening the south-eastern town of Mazo, had been brought under control.

He added that efforts to extinguish the fire completely were ongoing and may take a further week.

Map of La Palma

The fires, which began on Friday, were fanned by strong winds over the weekend and gutted several dozen homes in the town of Fuencaliente.

Roads were closed leaving tourist groups stranded on the island, a popular holiday destination in the eastern Atlantic off the coast of Morocco.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who visited the island on Sunday, has pledged compensation for those who were forced to evacuate.

La Palma is small and relatively undeveloped island with a resident population of about 85,000.

There have been nearly 1,000 forest fires in Spain this year, a 26% increase on last year, which the country's environment ministry attributes to a hotter, drier summer.

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