Last checked at 
(Adds biggest cloud seen so far above volcano, evacuation of
pets)
By Guillermo Martinez and Jon Nazca
LA PALMA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Intensifying volcanic
explosions on the Spanish island of La Palma forced firefighters
to retreat and authorities to evacuate three more towns on
Friday, while airlines cancelled flights due to a cloud of gas
and ash, the biggest since the volcano erupted.
Firefighters pulled out of clean-up work in the town of
Todoque on Friday afternoon as a new vent opened up in the flank
of the volcano and videos shared on social media showed a
massive shockwave emanating from the eruption site.
A Reuters witness saw a huge grey cloud billowing from the
top of the volcano on Friday afternoon, the largest since the
eruption began on Sunday.
"The volcano is in a newly explosive phase ... Firefighters
will not operate anymore today," tweeted the Tenerife fire
service, which has been deployed to help on La Palma.
Authorities ordered the evacuation of the towns of Tajuya,
Tacande de Abajo and the part of Tacande de Arriba that had not
already been evacuated on Friday afternoon, with residents told
to assemble at the local football ground.
Canary Islands emergency services had initially told
residents to stay indoors to avoid the dense cloud of ash and
lava fragments but later decided to evacuate due to the
heightened risk from explosions.
It wasn't just people being evacuated, but animals too.
"The evacuation of people is the main priority ... although
there are also other important tasks such as keeping pets safe,"
the Guardia Civil tweeted, with a video showing officers
carrying reluctant goats to safety.
Since erupting on Sunday, the Cumbre Vieja volcano has
spewed out thousands of tons of lava, destroyed hundreds of
houses and forced the evacuation of thousands of people.
No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported but
about 15% of the island's economically crucial banana crop could
be at risk, jeopardising thousands of jobs.
Canary Island airline Binter said on Friday it had cancelled
all flights to La Palma due to the volcano eruption https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/canaries-volcano-blasts-lava-into-air-ash-blankets-area-2021-09-23,
while Iberia cancelled its only flight scheduled for
the day, and another local airline, Canaryfly, also suspended
operations.
Binter said it was forced to halt operations to and from La
Palma as the ash cloud had worsened considerably in the last few
hours.
The airline, which had initially only cancelled night
flights, could not say when it would resume operations.
A cloud of toxic gas and ash extends more than 4 km (2-1/2
miles) into the sky, the Canaries volcanology institute said on
Thursday.
It has begun to drift northeast towards the Mediterranean
and Spanish mainland, the national weather agency said.
Airspace above the island remains open apart from two small
areas near the eruption site.
(Reporting by Guillermo Martinez and Marco Trujillo in La Palma
and Emma Pinedo and Jessica Jones in Madrid
Editing by Nathan Allen, Raissa Kasolowsky and Giles Elgood)
