LA GOMERA, Spain - More than 150 firemen and four helicopters on Sunday battled forest fires on the small Canaries island of La Gomera, authorities said.
Around 500 people were evacuated from their homes after the fires broke out on Saturday on the rugged and mountainous island in Spain's Atlantic archipelago, a popular tourist destination. The fires were "almost under control" Sunday morning, a local government official said.
But the hot, dry wind changed direction and the flames to spread again, an AFP photographer on the island said.
The head of the island's council, Casimiro Curbelo, said more than 700 hectares (1,700 acres) have already been affected, but the flames have not reached the island's Garajonay National Park.
The Canary Islands government said in a statement that another water-dropping helicopter and a plane were being brought in to help to the more than 150 firemen and four helicopters already battling the flames.
It said 11 people have been treated for respiratory ailments.
Officials blamed hot weather and high winds for the fires on the densely wooded 378-square-kilometer (146-square-mile) island, which is home to about 20,000 people.
But Curbelo said one of the fires may have been sparked by an electrical cable in the forest.
Last year, two major fires destroyed 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of land on Tenerife and Grand Canarias, the two main islands in the chain located off the western coast of Morocco