Forest fires in Chile have killed 24 people and injured 2,180 since February 2, according to an official report. Firefighters were battling 82 of the 309 active fires across the country on Tuesday. The regions of Biobio, Ñuble and Araucanía, in the southern part of the center of the country, are the most affected and have been placed in a state of disaster by the government.
Nearly 290,000 hectares of forest were ravaged by the flames, which also destroyed 1,150 homes, according to the latest report from the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service, Senapred. “In five days, we had a burned area equivalent to what is usually burned in two years of fires”, underlined, during a press conference the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha. Chileans are experiencing a summer of unparalleled temperatures, over 40°C in some areas, with drought fueling the flames.
Some 5,600 firefighters and agents of the National Forestry Corporation have been fighting 69 fires out of the 280 still ongoing since last Monday. International aid begins to arrive, including the American DC-10 Tanker plane, capable of dropping 36,000 liters of water. The United States, Spain, Argentina and Mexico have sent material resources (planes, trucks, helicopters, drones, etc.) and human resources (fire experts, soldiers, firefighters, etc.). France announced on Tuesday that it would send “in the next few hours” 80 civil security firefighters and rescuers.
Residents cool the ground with water in an attempt to keep wildfires at bay, near Puren, Chile, Saturday, February 4, 2023. MATIAS DELACROIX / PAMembers of a family whose home was destroyed by fires in Tome, Chile, Saturday, February 4, 2023. MATIAS DELACROIX / PAA woman clears debris from a landscape of charred remains in Santa Ana, Chile, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. MATIAS DELACROIX / PACharred remains of a house after a forest fire in Santa Juana, Chile, Sunday, February 5, 2023. MATIAS DELACROIX / PAAerial view of a burned area after the forest fire in Santa Juana, Concepcion province, Chile, February 5, 2023. JAVIER TORRES / AFPFirefighters rest at the command post after battling forest fires in Santa Juana, Concepcion province, Chile, February 6, 2023. JAVIER TORRES / AFPFirefighters prepare to load water into a US DC-10 air tanker at Carriel Sur airport in Concepcion, Chile, February 6, 2023. JAVIER TORRES / AFPFirefighters fight a forest fire in Rafael, in the commune of Tome, in the Biobio region, Chile, on February 7, 2023. JAVIER TORRES / AFPMembers of the Spanish emergency military unit fight forest fires in Cabrero on February 7, 2023. On Sunday evening, an aircraft from Spain arrived with fifty people on board: six firefighting experts forest, thirty-eight soldiers from an emergency response battalion and six drone pilots. JAVIER TORRES / AFPMembers of the Spanish emergency military unit fight forest fires in Cabrero, February 7, 2023. JAVIER TORRES / AFPA map of Yumbel and its surroundings at the firefighters’ command post during a forest fire, in Yumbel, Chile, February 7, 2023. IVAN ALVARADO / REUTERSMembers of the Mexican army prepare to fight the forest fires that affect the southern zone of central Chile, in the province of Concepcion, Chile, February 7, 2023. One hundred and fifty specialists in the fight against forest fires , soldiers and civilians, arrived from Mexico. JAVIER TORRES / AFPAerial view of a forest fire in Rafael, in the commune of Tome, in the Biobio region, Chile, on February 7, 2023. JAVIER TORRES / AFP
