Intense forest fires in central Chile have left many dead and destroyed about 1,000 homes, with President Gabriel Boric declaring a state of emergency.
Firefighters battled dozens of wildfires in central Chile on Saturday, with at least 51 people dead so far.
President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency “due to the disaster” in central and southern Chile, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius and unusually dry weather.
According to the government, more than 1,000 houses were destroyed. Boric warned that the death toll was likely to rise.
“Given the circumstances of the tragedy, the death toll will certainly increase in the next few hours,” Boric said. “The situation is really very difficult.”
Boric wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he ordered the deployment of more military units to fight the fires and asked citizens to cooperate with emergency teams as well.
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He also expressed his condolences to the families of those who died in the post office fires.
Large fires in central Chile
The deadliest fires were in the central region of Valparaíso, home to more than a million people. Areas around the central coastal tourist town of Vina del Mar were also badly affected and rescue teams were trying to reach all affected areas, Chilean authorities said.
92 fires were burning in the center and south of the country, where temperatures were unusually high this week, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said today.
The fires have affected more than 43,000 hectares of land, Toha said, adding: “The area with fires today is much smaller than last year (but) at this time, the number of affected hectares is increasing very quickly.”
Fires plague Chile every year. A scorching heat wave and dozens of wildfires last year killed about 27 people and destroyed thousands of acres of forest.
