A fire this Thursday in the upper area of the city of Viña del Mar120 km west of Santiago, Chileleft at least two dead and affected some 400 homes, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency.
The flames, favored by strong gusts of wind, consumed ravines and hills in a few hours until they reached the lowest and most inhabited sectors of this seaside resort on the Chilean central coast, neighboring the tourist port of Valparaiso.
“Approximately 200 houses are burning,” said the commander of the Vina del Mar Fire DepartmentPatricio Brito, who later stated that the number of homes affected had risen to 400.
Brito also confirmed the death of two people as a result of the incident.
“The fire started in a sector called Nueva Esperanza 2000; it crossed and reached these two parcels and goes down to the north, towards Quinta Vergara through a deep ravine,” explained the mayor of Viña del MarMacarena Ripamonti.
Through social networks, the Firefighters reported that at least 800 troops were in the area attending to the emergency.
Some of the evacuees left through Quinta Vergara, the amphitheater where the International Song Festival of Viña de Maraccording to television images.
The National Emergency Office (Onemi) He said that it was a “fire with rapid spread, high heat intensity and dispersion”, which had preliminarily affected some 110 hectares.
He decreed a communal “red alert” for Viña del Mar and ordered the evacuation of the Tranque Sur, Puerto Montt, Puerto Aysén, Cabritera, Forestal Alto, Siete Hermanas sectors and the informal settlement called “Felipe Camiroaga”.
“We won’t leave you alone”
In view of the severity of the fire, the government of President Gabriel Boric decreed a state of emergency.
“The President of the Republic has instructed to declare a state of constitutional exception of catastrophe due to public calamity” in the Valparaíso region, announced the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
For this reason, a head of National Defense will have the power, eventually, to limit constitutional rights and to take control and requisition all the goods that are required to face the emergency in the area.
“There was a very quick response to the start of this fire, but despite this, due to the place where this fire develops, the weather conditions, the wind and the presence of combustible material, it spreads very aggressively and quickly” Monsalve explained.
The fire was encouraged by wind gusts of between 40 and 50 kilometers per hour that complicated the work of forest brigade members and firefighters.
150 forestry brigade members and 400 firefighters were working in the fight against the incident, almost all of them from companies in the Valparaíso region and some who came from the region. Metropolitan of Santiago.
“We will not leave you alone,” President Boric posted on his Twitter account.
“Our priority as Government of Chile is in the safety of people and we will continue deploying all the necessary resources to control the emergency,” added the president.
(With information from AFP)