At least 15 people have been killed and 50,000 evacuated as rampant wildfires burn through Chile, officials say.
14 blazes have ripped through 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) for two days now in the Nuble and Biobio regions, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Chile’s capital, Santiago, Security Minister Luis Cordero said when reporting the death toll.
President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency as nearly 4,000 firefighters have been battling flames whipped up by gusting winds and hot weather in the southern hemisphere summer.
However, the government’s response has been criticised by local officials as people die and their homes burn.
Matias Cid, a 25-year-old student who lives in Penco, described fast-moving flames burning through the night and devouring homes.
‘We had to leave with the shirts on our backs. If we had stayed another 20 minutes, we would have burned to death,’ Mr Cid told AFP.
The armed forces will now be involved following the declaration of a state of emergency in the Nuble and Biobio regions, which President Boric made on the social media platform X.
‘All resources are available,’ Boric wrote.
Nearly 4,000 firefighters have been battling the flames as the engulf southern Chile
14 wildfires have been reported to have torn through 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres). Here in Concepcion (pictured) 253 homes are said to have been destroyed
Most of those evactuated were from Penco (pictured) and Lirquen, which hace a combined population of 60,000 people
Despite this, local officials reported that for hours on Sunday, destruction was everywhere and help from the federal government was nowhere.
‘Dear President Boric, from the bottom of my heart, I have been here for four hours, a community is burning and there is no (government) presence,’ said Rodrigo Vera, the mayor of the small coastal town of Penco in the Biobio region.
‘How can a minister do nothing but call me to tell me that the military is going to arrive at some point?’
All but one of the fatalities so far were in Penco, Mr Vera added, where the flames surprised residents in the town, appearing after midnight and trapping people in their homes.
‘Many people didn’t evacuate. They stayed in their houses because they thought the fire would stop at the edge of the forest,’ said John Guzmán, 55, surveying the scene in Penco, where smoke blanketed the sky in an orange haze. ‘It was completely out of control. No one expected it.’
‘We face a complicated situation,’ Interior Minister Alvaro Elizalde said.
Most of the evacuations were in the Biobio towns of Penco and Lirquen, which have a combined population of around 60,000 people, the director of the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response Alicia Cebrian said.
‘We fled running, with the kids, in the dark,’ said Juan Lagos, 52, also in Penco. The fire engulfed most of the city, burning cars, a school and a church.
15 people have been killed while 50,000 have been evacuated. Residents mourn the loss in Concepcion (pictured)
Charred bodies were found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars
The fires caught those in Penco unaware, engulfing the town after midnight, trapping people in their homes
Mayor of Penco Rodrigo Vera has criticised the government response despite President Gabriel Boric declaring a state of emergency in the region
Charred bodies were found across fields, homes, along roads and in cars.
Residents of Lirquen, a small port town, had to save themselves by rushing to the beach after the inferno engulfed the settlement, resident Alejandro Arredondo, 57, said.
‘There is nothing left standing,’ he said as he looked over the smouldering landscape of metal and wood left where homes once stood.
The weather has not helped firefighting efforts with more high temperatures and strong winds predicted in the coming days, said Esteban Krause, the head of a forest preservation agency in Biobio. Today, there were reports of 38°C (100F) in the region.
The total number of homes burned nationwide remained unclear, but one municipality, Concepcion in Biobio, reported 253 homes destroyed.
‘From what we can see, there are people who died… and we knew them well,’ said Víctor Burboa, 54. ‘Everyone here knew them.’
Wildfires have severely impacted south-central Chile in recent years.
138 people died in several fires that broke out simultaneously near the city of Vina del Mar, northwest of Santiago in February 2024, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
About 16,000 people were affected by those fires, authorities said.
Chilean Carabineros, the national gendarmerie, were seen putting bodies into bags
Wildfires commonly effect Chile, with 138 people being killed in fires in February 2024
Concepcion has been devastated by the fires with 253 homes being destroyed. It is not yet known how many have been burned nationally