The 191 active fires that hit the south-central zone of Chile have already left at least seven deaths and led the government of Gabriel Boric to declare a state of catastrophe in the region. In addition, the president pointed out against unauthorized burning, since, according to him, there are “indications” that some outbreaks were caused by these illegal procedures.
In the town of Santa Juana, in the Biobío region, there were five fatalities. The Chilean Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha, explained that two of these people died after being hit by the flames while traveling on a road and another two died from a traffic accident “probably trying to escape the fire.” The fifth person was a volunteer from the local fire brigade.
As reported by the AFP news agency, the two remaining victims died when a helicopter they were flying fell and was participating in the fight against the fires. The aircraft, which had been contracted by the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf), crashed in the Galvarino sector, in the La Araucanía region.
“Very saddened by the helicopter accident in which the pilot and mechanic who worked fighting the fire in the Galvarino commune in La Araucanía died,” the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, wrote on his Twitter account.
According to the authorities, nearly 200 fires have devastated more than 40,000 hectares, leaving 107 homes with some type of damage, nine injured and 12 homeless. Of the 191 active fires, 45 are out of control.
The situation brings to mind the catastrophe that took place in that area at the beginning of 2017. Then there was a mega forest fire that left 11 dead, some 6,000 homeless, more than 1,500 homes destroyed and 467,000 hectares affected.
As in that year, currently the sources of fires began in agricultural areas and forests, and advanced to populated areas. Even traffic on one of the main highways that connects the city of Concepción (510 km south of Santiago) had to be restricted since Thursday due to the proximity of the fire.
The Chilean government declared a state of catastrophe on Friday in the Ñuble and Biobío (center-south) regions. The sources of accidents also affect the regions of Maule and La Araucanía.
President Gabriel Boric decided to suspend his vacations and arrived today as far as Biobío and Ñuble. “We are going to be carrying out patrols throughout the area. The most important thing now is to put out the fires. The State is deployed for that,” Boric said.
“We are not going to leave them alone. Today, the priority is fighting the fire, putting out the fire, for that all the resources are deployed,” said the Chilean president, who also pointed out that work is being done on “the reconstruction and recover all that has been lost”. Likewise, he stressed that the most important thing is to “save lives.”
Regarding the origin of the forest fires, the president announced that “There are indications that some were caused by unauthorized burning”and added that “There is no authorization to burn garbage, or agricultural waste, or anything”.
Boric called on people to prevent any event that could lead to a future fire and stated that “once the emergency is put out, we will take charge and accompany the communities and victims in everything necessary.”
In this context, the Prosecutor’s Office announced the arrest of two people linked to the generation of fires in the Biobío and La Araucanía regions.
The declaration of the state of catastrophe, a state of constitutional exception, allows measures such as the provision of additional resources to control the emergency and go to the aid of those affected, as well as restricting the use of military forces in this emergency situation.
The fires break out in the midst of an extreme heat wave with records above 41ºC and in the midst of a severe and prolonged drought.
75 aircraft and more than 2,300 brigade members are working in the fight against the fire, while Minister Tohá announced the hiring of another 10 aircraft and was considering leasing more aircraft abroad.
The Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation arranged to send a team of 50 brigades to Chile with rapid fire attack trucks to combat the complex front of forest fires that plagues the trans-Andean country after the formal request of President Boric.
