At least 19 people died in multiple fires that occurred simultaneously on Friday night in the Valparaíso region, 100 kilometers east of Santiago, Chilean authorities reported on Saturday.
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“The balance of fatalities is very provisional. The fatalities that we have confirmed are all from the same sector, Villa Independencia, in the Achupallas sector.
There are other areas of the fire where we still do not have confirmed data. So far there are 19 people dead, of which 15 have been identified,” Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said at a press conference.
The fire, which is not yet controlled, has destroyed more than a thousand homes in different towns in the region, where President Gabriel Boric decreed a state of emergency due to catastrophe in order to mobilize the necessary resources to face the emergency.
“We are facing an unprecedented catastrophe (…) There are more than five simultaneous outbreaks,” acknowledged the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti.
The fires coincide with one of the most intense heat waves in recent years, with temperatures that have reached 38 degrees Celsius in the central area.
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Last year, Chile experienced the deadliest wave of fires in recent years, which left 27 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed in central-southern regions of the country, such as La Araucanía, Biobío and Ñuble.
Experts attribute this to an unusual increase in temperatures and the impact of a forestry model based on the monoculture of pine and eucalyptus.
EFE
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