Firefighters in the coastal region of Valparaíso, in Chile, and regional authorities said this Wednesday (7) that the sequence of forest fires that began last Friday (2) and devastated several cities in Viña del Mar, killing at least 131 people.
This Tuesday (6) evening, the Undersecretary of the Interior and Public Security, Manuel Monsalve, declared that the situation had improved, although temperatures were expected to remain high this Wednesday, with an increase in humidity, which gave hope of an improvement in the situation.
Monsalve also said that three of the most worrying outbreaks, the Las Tablas Complex, of 8.5 thousand hectares; that of Lo Moscoso, in the city of Quilpué; and Tranque La Luz, in Valparaíso, were contained.
“In general terms, today the fires in the Valparaíso region are contained and, therefore, we expect their total control in the coming days and, to this end, teams are working, both aircraft and ground brigades”, he commented.
Meanwhile, the work of removing rubble continues with great caution, as there are still bodies among the ashes, and materials for reconstruction have begun to be made available, following a tragedy that caused extensive damage to more than 6,000 homes, many of them which were completely destroyed.
To date, the death toll remains at 131, with 35 identified and 20 bodies handed over to their families. Seven of them are minors.
In addition, a nighttime curfew was maintained in affected communes and localities to prevent looting, although it is no longer widespread but limited to the most affected areas.
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