A fire that broke out this Thursday followingnoon in the upper area of the city of Viña del Mar120 km west of Santiago de Chile, left 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 Valparaíso.
The first light of day revealed the panorama of destruction left by the incident, which began on Thursday followingnoon in the hills of that city.
WATCH THE LIVE TRANSMISSION HERE:
“We lost everything, documents, vehicle. What I feel the most are some little dogs that stayed inside me. They are out there, dead,” Óscar González, in the Forestry sector of that town, told AFP.
The Chilean government assured on Friday that with the current weather conditions and the resources it possesses, it might control the incident this day.
“In the current conditions of the fire, in the climatic conditions that are forecast and with the available resources, the forecast is (that it can be achieved) to control the fire during the course of the day,” said the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
The authorities confirmed the death of two people, an 85-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man.
In addition, Monsalve explained that the official figures on the incident – which began in the upper area of this city and advanced through the hills – were 30 slightly injured, some 130 houses destroyed by flames and 125 hectares destroyed by fire.
“The fire started in a sector called Nueva Esperanza 2000; he crossed and reached these two plots and is going down north, towards Quinta Vergara through a deep ravine, ”he explained the mayoress of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti.
Some of the evacuees left through the Quinta Vergarathe amphitheater where the Viña de Mar International Song Festival is held every year, according to television images.
“We had to go out with what we were wearing. (…) We managed to fill buckets and get a little wet and that kind of stopped the flames a bit, but it was hell,” explained Evelyn Arancibia, from the Villa Montes sector, in Viña del Mar.
“The fire started up there, in (the sector of) Rodelillo. We all looked and didn’t realize when we had the fire down here. The houses were burning one following the other, until it reached mine, and passed to the other side. It’s all burned. Practically the entire population was burned, ”explained Daniel Velázquez, 66, next to him.
The National Emergency Office (One my) He said it was a “fire with rapid spread, high heat intensity and spread”which had preliminarily affected some 110 hectares.
He decreed the “Red alert” communal 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 the state of constitutional exception of catastrophe due to public calamityin the region of Valparaisoannounced the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
For this reason, a head of National defense eventually have the power to limit constitutional rights and to take control and requisition all the assets 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,” detailed Monsalve.
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 forest brigade members and 400 firefighters were working in the fight once morest the incident, almost all from companies in the region of Valparaiso and some who came from the Santiago Metropolitan region.
“We won’t leave you alone” President Boric published on his Twitter account.
“Our priority as the Government of Chile it is in the safety of people and we will continue deploying all the necessary resources to control the emergency,” added the president.
The director of the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) from the region of ValparaisoFor his part, Luis Correa reported that controlling the fire will take at least a couple of days.