Dramatic efforts Firefighters are working to stabilize the fronts of the huge forest fire on the Spanish island. Tenerife for six days and forced thousands of residents from their homes.

The fire that broke out last Tuesday night has burned until now approx 128,000 acres of forest inside the national park around the Teide volcano, the highest peak in Spain.

The effort to extinguish it was hampered by the difficult topography of the terrain — consisting of steep canyons and cliffs — and by the recent heat wave that the pine forest had known.

“The worst is behind us”the head of the Canary Islands region, Fernando Clavijo, said this morning to Cadena SER radio station.

“Today, we will continue to work, stabilizing the perimeters of the fire. We can’t talk about control yet, we’ll see if we can stabilize all fronts,” he added.

The authorities allowed some of the 12,000 people yesterday Sunday who were removed from the villages of Arafo and Kandelaria to return to their homes, Claviho said.

“We are assessing the situation as the northeast has calmed down, and we hope that reconnaissance flights will allow us to give the evacuees good news,” he added.

Clavijo noted that the fire was almost certainly human-caused and said police were conducting an investigation to identify and arrest the arsonists.

Meanwhile, the national weather service AEMET said another heat wave would affect mainland Spain today, further increasing fire risks.

However, AEMET said there is a chance Tenerife could see some rain later today.