As entire residential districts were reduced to ashes and strewn with burned vehicles, residents tried to save one house being devoured by flames using a bucket of water. The smoke made the night sky even darker, save for patches of blazing fire. The images told the tragic tale of people trapped by the blazes that have been raging in central Chile since Friday, February 2 – particularly in the Valparaiso region, 116 km west of Santiago. When the fires burned out and the smoke cleared, some bodies were covered with sheets while the charred remains of others lay in plain view.
At least 112 people have died. Delivering an early death toll, while warning this would significantly increase, President Gabriel Boric called the fires "the greatest tragedy" in Chile since the magnitude 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 500 dead in 2010. Only 32 bodies have been identified. According to the authorities in Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, a seaside resort whose surrounding hills were ravaged by the fires, hundreds were reported missing on Sunday. The president declared two days of national mourning to begin on Monday. "All Chile is suffering and mourning its dead," he said.
"I'm in a state of shock. I saw my house disappear in five minutes, we couldn't save anything, I've lost everything," Yanina (who didn't give her last name), a mother from Achapullas, a district of Viña del Mar ravaged by the flames, told Canal 13 television. Thankfully, however, her family survived. "I cherish life. A house can be rebuilt," she added, standing in front of the rubble of her home.
The fires in Valparaiso led to the mobilization of 23 helicopters, nine planes, 17 fire engines and more than 1,300 members of the armed forces. At a midday press briefing on Sunday, interior minister Carolina Toha said "more favorable conditions" were bringing the fires under control, with increased humidity, somewhat cooler temperatures and weakened winds. However, 40 fires remained active by Sunday evening. According to an interior ministry report on Saturday, the fires have ravaged 43,000 hectares across the country.
The high death toll can be attributed to the population density of the Valparaiso area, and the presence of forests and vegetation in residential areas. In some cases, housing has been built on areas meant to serve as firebreaks. In its path, the fire found combustible matter that included "garbage dumps, shrubs, wooden and fibro-cement houses in working-class neighbourhoods," explained Miguel Castillo, a forestry engineer at the University of Chile.
You have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.