The devastating wildfires that have led to the death of 20 people in Chile and wiped out entire towns raged for the fourth day on Tuesday, due to warm temperatures and strong winds. The blaze started on Saturday in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, about 500 km south of the capital, Santiago, and has since destroyed a large swathe of fertile and forested land.
More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in the ongoing wildfires, according to officials. President Gabriel Boric on Monday said fire officials and volunteers had managed to contain some of the blazes but others remained active, while new fires had broken out in the Araucanía region bordering Biobío.
Also Read: Chile wildfires leave 18 dead; acres of forest destroyed
“In light of the serious ongoing wildfires, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe” in the two regions, Boric said in a post on X. “All resources are available,” he added.
Both fire-affected areas were declared disaster-hit zones, allowing for the deployment of soldiers who patrolled a desolate landscape of melted cars, twisted metal and houses reduced to ashes.
One of the survivors described the scenes as horrible, saying all of his attempts to save the house yielded no results as fires ripped through the entire neighbourhood.
According to official sources, more than 3,500 firefighters and hundreds of volunteers were fighting the raging wildfires in Ñuble and Biobío. The temperatures in the area reached around 25 degrees Celsius, slightly lower than at the weekend. Wildfires have severely impacted south-central Chile in recent years, especially during its warmest and driest months of January and February.
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