Officials say 10 people have been arrested on suspicion of having set some of the fires.
Forest fires have killed 24 people, injured nearly 1,000 and destroyed 800 homes in five days as a blistering heat wave grips south-central Chile, authorities said Sunday.
Fueled by strong winds and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), hundreds of fires have razed some 270,000 hectares in a region about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the capital Santiago.
The toll increased by one since Saturday with the death of a person who was being treated for injuries in hospital, said interior ministry official Manuel Monsalve.
The fatalities included one firefighter as well as two crew members of a helicopter that crashed on Friday.
Monsalve also reported 997 people with fire-related injuries, 26 of them in serious condition.
Eight firefighters are among the injured.
There were scenes of devastation Sunday in areas surrounded by burning forests, with farming plots reduced to ashes, dead animals and rural people who lost everything overnight.
“It was hell,” Maria Ines, a 55-year-old social worker in Santa Juana in the hard-hit Biobio region told AFP after numerous houses were razed by the flames.
“It is a miracle that some of the houses were spared,” she said, but “now we are afraid that the fire will return…. Where will we find refuge? Where? How?”
The dead included one firefighter as well as two crew members of a helicopter that crashed.
Miguel Angel Henriquez, a 58-year-old farmer from Santa Juana in the same region, told AFP that he saw a neighbor brave the flames to try and rescue some of his animals. “He did not come out. I yelled at him to come out of the fire, but he didn’t…
2023-02-05 16:19:49 Chile forest fire toll rises, hundreds left homeless
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Forest fires continue to ravage parts of Chile, with hundreds now left homeless and thousands of hectares of protected land having been destroyed. The number of fires across the country has now reached 17, with the majorityfound in the country’s south.
The consequences of these ferocious fires have been far-reaching and devastating, with nearby communities losing homes and livelihoods. As of the 15th of January, 375 dwellings had been fully or partially destroyed and around 1,400 people are now reported homeless.
To add to the destruction, authorities also estimate that around 8,000 hectares of protected land has been lost as a direct result of the fires. This has included the destruction of a century-old forestry reserve and part of Nahuelbuta National Park. In addition, Chilean fire services have received over 300 reports of fire-related incidents across the area.
Local officials have scrambled to provide aid for those affected, with humanitarian teams now active in the region. The Chilean Government are also reported to have allocated around US$5.5 million to battle the destruction, but the true extent of the damage is still uncertain.
The current fire season has been the worst on record, with fires continuing to sweep across the region. The fires are proving difficult to contain, with is expected to further rise in the coming days. Fingers have increasingly been pointed at the weather conditions for being conducive to the fires, with powerful winds and high temperatures playing an important part in the severity of the situation.
Regardless of the cause, no one can dispute the effect of the Chile forest fires. As communities and charred land drown in their wake, the importance of having proper preventative control measures in place will only become more significant in the coming years.
