‘Unprecedented disaster’: Chilean wildfires kill 46 people

“We know these (numbers) are going to increase,” President Gabriel Boric said.

Santiago, Chile:

Wildfires across Chile have killed at least 46 people, officials said on Saturday, leaving streets littered with bodies and homes destroyed as the blazes continued to spread.

President Gabriel Boric has ordered a state of emergency in central and southern parts of the country “due to the disaster” as drought and temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) exacerbate the crisis.

“The fire killed 40 people and six others died from burns,” Bolick said on Saturday afternoon after surveying the affected area by helicopter.

“We know these (numbers) are going to increase,” he added.

After the flight, he promised: “We will help them as a government get back on their feet.”

Thick gray smoke blanketed the Viña del Mar area in the tourist region of Valparaíso on Chile’s central coastline, forcing residents to flee their homes.

Authorities imposed a curfew from 9pm (0000 GMT) on Saturday to allow emergency supplies, especially fuel, to enter affected areas. New evacuation orders have been issued, but it’s unclear exactly how many people have been told to leave.

Earlier on Saturday, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said 92 fires had burned across the country as of midday, burning 43,000 hectares (106,000 acres). As of afternoon, firefighters were still extinguishing 29 of the fires and 40 were under control.

AFP journalists saw entire houses burned overnight on hillsides around the coastal city of Viña del Mar on Saturday morning, as thousands of people who had previously evacuated returned to find their homes destroyed.

Some of the dead were seen lying on the road, covered with sheets.

The area is about 1.5 hours northwest of the capital Santiago and is a popular tourist destination in the summer. The coastal region is also important to the country’s wine, agricultural and logging industries.

Fires destroyed nearly 30 homes in the towns of Estrella and Navidad, southwest of the capital, and residents near the surfing resort of Pichilemu were forced to evacuate.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Yvonne Guzman, 63, who fled with her elderly mother as the fire began approaching her home in Quilpue, told AFP , and ended up stuck in traffic for hours.

“It was very distressing because we had evacuated the house but we couldn’t move on. All these people were trying to get out but they couldn’t move,” she said.

Macarena Ripamonti, mayor of Viña del Mar, said: “We are facing an unprecedented disaster. Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened in the Valparaíso region.”

‘extreme’

Thousands of hectares of land have been burned in Valparaíso alone, according to Chile’s National Forest Service.

Photos of the stranded driver went viral, showing mountains ablaze at the end of the famous Route 68, a highway used by thousands of tourists on their way to the Pacific Coast.

In addition to Valparaíso, firefighters and emergency services personnel are also battling blazes in O’Higgins, Maule, Bio Bio, La Araucaña and Los Lagos in central and southern Chile. struggle.

“It’s been hell,” Rodrigo Pulgar, who lost his home in the inland town of El Olivar, told AFP. “I was trying to help my neighbours… I The house started burning behind us. Ashes rained down.”

On Friday, authorities closed the road connecting Valparaiso to the capital Santiago because a huge mushroom cloud “reduced visibility.”

The fires were caused by summer heatwaves and droughts caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon affecting southern South America, with scientists warning that a warming planet increases the risk of natural disasters such as heatwaves and fires.

As Chile and Colombia deal with rising temperatures, a heat wave is also threatening to hit Paraguay and Brazil.

In Argentina, fire brigades from several provinces have been battling fires since January 25 in more than 3,000 hectares of Los Alerces National Park, known for its beauty and biodiversity.

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