At least 46 people have died in the forest fires ravaging central and southern Chile, Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced on Saturday February 3.
“Forty people were killed in the fires, and six others (died) from burns”declared the head of state after flying over the region by helicopter. “We know these (numbers) will increase”.
“This is an unprecedented disaster, the Valparaiso region has never experienced a situation of this magnitude”, said Macarena Ripamonti, mayor of the famous seaside resort of Viña del Mar. After a lull, the fires have resumed in the tourist region of Valparaiso, where Viña del Mar is located whose beaches are taken at this time of summer . southern. The flames ravaged nearly 43,000 hectares on Saturday, particularly on the Pacific coast, according to the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha, who initially reported a toll of 19 deaths in a single sector of Viña del Mar.
Nighttime curfew
Violent winds fanned the flames and a pall of black smoke covered the streets, where explosions followed one another, noted journalists from Agence France-Presse. The authorities have established a nighttime curfew from 9 p.m., in order to facilitate the supply of fuel to emergency teams, » a priority « according to the undersecretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve. New calls for evacuations were launched, without it being possible to know how many residents remained at home.
In total, 92 fires were active at midday on Saturday, including 40 under control, mainly in the Valparaiso region but also in the center and south of the country, Mr.MeToha. On the hills of Valparaiso, where the streets are littered with hundreds of charred cars, thousands of people were able to discover their destroyed homes on Saturday morning.
Firefighters have been fighting tirelessly since Friday against dozens of homes in the regions of Valparaiso and O’Higgins in the center, but also Maule, Biobio, La Araucania and Los Lagos, in the South.
“The priority is the fires in the Valparaiso region, due to their proximity to urban areas”, declared the Minister of the Interior. These are areas located between 80 and 120 km northwest of Santiago, rich in wine, agricultural and forestry businesses. Due to their proximity to the Pacific beaches, they experience an influx of tourists during this period of the austral summer.
Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil threatened
President Boric declared a state of emergency on Friday in order to “have all the necessary means” faced with the progression of fires. Fourteen ships and five helicopters were mobilized to fight these fires.
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Since Wednesday, the temperature has been close to 40°C in central Chile and the capital, Santiago. “These episodes are more and more recurrent, which is why we see historic temperature records every year”explained to the Chilean antenna of the CNN channel Pablo Lobos Stephani, responsible for fire protection at the National Forestry Company (or Conaf, for Corporación Nacional Forestal).
This heatwave resulting from the El Niño climatic phenomenon is currently affecting the southern cone of Latin America, in the middle of summer, causing forest fires worsened by global warming. After Chile and Colombia, the heat wave threatens Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the coming days.