Wildfires Blaze Through Chile, President Declares State Of Catastrophe
Photo Credit: Javier Torres/AP Photo via Al Jazeera
On Jan. 16, two dozen wildfires began to blaze large swaths of land across central and southern Chile, causing homes and forests to be destroyed, infrastructure to be irreversibly damaged, and at least 18 deaths. According to Chilean security minister Luis Cordero, 21,000 acres of land were burned and over 50,000 residents were forced to evacuate, as per The Guardian.
These blazing wildfires broke out amid a sweltering heatwave in south-central Chile; in some regions, temperatures topped 38°C, according to NASA. This extreme weather, paired with gusty winds, hampered firefighters’ attempts to extinguish the flames, The Guardian reported.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe on Jan. 18 in the central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, which allowed the government to deploy the army to these areas. The fire affected over 74,000 acres of land, according to Chile’s National Forestry Corporation. However, some local officials reported that help from the government did not arrive quickly on Jan. 18. Instead, help was nowhere in sight.
“A community is burning, and there is no [government] presence,” Rodrigo Vera, the mayor of Penco, a town in Biobío, said, according to The Guardian. “How can a minister do nothing but call me to tell me that the military is going to arrive at some point?”
The scope of the fires was massive. They engulfed most of Penco, and witnesses reported that charred bodies were found across fields, in homes, along roads, and in cars. Some of the largest fires have ravaged forests bordering Concepción, a city by the coast. Disaster officials say that at least 250 homes were destroyed, according to the BBC.
However, residents in Penco said that the fires were completely unexpected. “Many people didn’t evacuate,” John Guzmán, a resident of Penco, told The Guardian. “They stayed in their houses because they thought the fire would stop at the edge of the forest [...] It was completely out of control.”
After the destruction, Boric announced that, although the government has “all of its resources mobilized to fight the fires,” people should nonetheless pay attention to all fire warnings or evacuation orders.
“I want to stress to everybody that as soon as they receive alerts, take notice and evacuate immediately,” Boric said, according to the New York Times. “Do not wait, because the fires can move quickly.” On Jan. 18, according to the BBC, he said that death tolls are expected to increase.
Cordero also worries that new fires may pop up throughout the region due to high temperatures, according to CNN. However, it isn’t just humans who have been impacted by the wildfires. Cats, dogs, and other pets were also affected, according to reporting from AP News. Police canine brigades and teams of volunteers worked together to provide first aid to pets caught in the flames. After days trapped beneath debris, many came into makeshift clinics with burned whiskers and paws, and were thirsty or injured.