Emergency services workers ordered residents to leave their homes for government shelters or hotels further from the flames on the Grand Canaria and Tenerife the two affected islands.
The archipelago off Africa's western coast is the latest region to be affected by wildfires after flames raced across Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and other parts of southeastern Europe last week in the midst of a heatwave.
Environment Minister Cristina Narbona declared a state of 'maximum alert' and said extra aircraft and firefighting crews were being sent from mainland Spain to help battle the flames, which broke out Friday.
Winds reached gusts of 65km an hour while temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius but the heat was expected to ease slightly tomorrow, the national weather office said.
Several houses burned down and seven roads on the islands were also closed because of the fires, the regional government said.
The fires ravaged 20,000 hectares of land in Gran Canaria, much of it in the island's mountainous and wooded centre, while on Tenerife the flames blackened 15,000 hectares of land.
A local official said the fires had ravaged a large section of the Palmitos Park zoological garden, home to some 150 bird species and thousands of palms.
Police on Saturday arrested a 37-year-old forest ranger who admitted starting the fire on Gran Canaria because he wanted his work contract, set to expire in September, to be extended.
Meanwhile, emergency services in southern Portugal said that a major forest fire, which broke out late yesterday had been brought under control overnight.
