At least 51 people lost their lives because of them forest fires who continue to rage at central and in southern Chilethe country’s president, Gabriel Borich, announced yesterday Saturday, warning that the tally of victims is only temporary.

After a lull, the fires have reignited in the tourist province Valparaisowhere the famous spa town of Viña del Mar is located, the beaches of which attract a lot of people in this period of the southern hemisphere summer, in the middle of heat waves.

“Forty people died because of them firessix others (surrendered) because of the burns” they suffered, Boric told the press, after flying over the affected area by helicopter. “We know that these (numbers) will increase”, he emphasized. “The situation is very difficult.”

Firefighters have been fighting breathlessly since yesterday Friday to contain dozens of fires in the provinces of Valparaiso and O’Higgins, in central Chile, as well as in Maule, Biobio, La Araucania and Los Lagos (south).

According to Interior Minister Toa, “the priority is the fires in Valparaiso”, because they are raging “at a short distance from urban areas”.

It is an “unprecedented disaster”, Valparaiso has “never experienced” fires “of this magnitude”, stressed Macarena Ripamondi, the mayor of Viña del Mar, which is suffering a heavy blow.

Strong winds strengthened them flamesveil black smoke covered the streets, while they were heard in succession explosionsAFP journalists found.

The authorities imposed Curfew from 21:00 (local time; 02:00 Greek time), among other things to facilitate the supply of fuel to the forces fighting to control the fires, which was a “priority”, according to Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve.

The authorities sent new ones appeals to residents to leave areas in a hurry, without being able to ascertain exactly how many have remained in houses threatened by the blaze.

The affected areas, from 80 to 120 kilometers northwest of the capital Santiago, are full of businesses, wineries, agriculture, forestry…

President Boric announced the day before yesterday emergency situation, to provide “all the necessary means”, in front of the spread of fires. Fourteen ships and five helicopters have been mobilized as part of the operations.

In total, 92 fires were classified as active yesterday Saturday afternoon, of which 40 were considered to have been brought under control, mainly in the Valparaiso prefecture, as well as in areas in the central and southern parts of the country, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

“Hell”

In the hills of the city Valparaisowhere they lay in the streets trunks of hundreds of charred carsthousands of citizens found their houses burnt down yesterday morning.

Chile

Pensioner Luis Vial, 69, could not hold back tears in front of the remains of his home in Villa Independencia, where 19 victims were found. “Within a minute, we lost everything,” he said.

“It was hell, the explosions (…) I was trying to help my neighbor put out his car fire, behind me my house was starting to burn. It was raining ash,” said Rodrigo Pulgar, a driver who also lost his home in El Olivar, one of the worst-hit areas.

“We got an emergency alert on our cellphones and it started falling rain of burning ashYvonne Guzmán told AFP earlier by phone.
The 63-year-old, who fled her home in Quilpué, a town 90 kilometers northeast of Santiago, was trapped for hours in her car with her 90-year-old mother-in-law, as were a large number of people desperately trying to escape the flames.

The tragedy is a result of El Niño

As of Wednesday, the temperature is hovering around 40°C in central Chile and the capital Santiago.
“These episodes are increasingly recurring, which is why we’re seeing historic temperature records every year,” Pablo Lobos, fire protection officer at the country’s forest service (CONAF), told CNN’s Chile affiliate.
The heat wave is characterized as a consequence of the El Nino climate phenomenon, which is currently affecting the southern cone of Latin America, in the middle of the summer season, causing forest fires that are exacerbated by climate change.
Last year, summer fires in Chile killed 27 people amid a record-breaking heat wave.
After Chile and Colombia, heat waves are expected to hit Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil in the coming days.