AP

MADRID A FIRE that was started in the Canary Islands by arsonists two weeks ago hasn’t been completely extinguished and is smoldering dangerously in forest undergrowth during a heat wave, Spanish officials said on Sunday.

The blaze has already charred about 12 percent of La Gomera island’s total area, and burning embers threaten to increase that amount.

Firefighters were finding it difficult to reach the three-kilometer (two-mile) stretch of smoky high ground because of the danger of rock falls, fire chief Javier Seijas said.

Garajonay National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1986 and a popular tourist attraction because of very rare, and in some cases unique, flora and fauna lies at the heart of the island.

Experts say the park’s woodland has endured since the Tertiary age, 11 million years ago, and is a precious survivor of the type of humid subtropical forest that once covered almost all of Europe before the arrival of humans.

“The fire that has devastated the forests of the island of La Gomera can be considered, in view of the damage, a true environmental disaster,” regional employment and trade spokeswoman Margarita Ramos said.

Ramos said the government recognized the fire had “seriously threatened the economic livelihood of those families whose heritage and way of life have suffered severe damage” and announced $555,165 in aid for those worst affected among the island’s 20,000 population.

About 4,200 hectares (16.2 square miles) of the island had burned, including 800 hectares (3.1 square miles) of park, Garajonay director Angel Fernandez said.

He said it appeared someone had been determined to start the fire because the island’s “fire services have been called out to deal with outbreaks 30 times since May.” “Up until now we had been able to deal with attempts to start fires, but in the end they managed to burn the island,” Fernandez said.

Interior Ministry official Maria del Carmen Hernandez Bento on Thursday confirmed people had been detained, but did not say how many.

Spanish authorities say arson and fires caused by carelessness are on the rise in the country compared to last year. A recent heat wave is also responsible for some fires.