At least 16 people have died as ferocious wildfires gripped Southern Chile, burning homes and thousands of hectares of land, the authorities said Sunday.
Blazes destroyed entire neighborhoods in the southern region of Biobío, according to local authorities, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people to temporary shelters.
Footage captured expansive flames lashing at buildings, with dense smoke obscuring the horizon under a heavy orange haze. Collapsed buildings and carbonized cars lined the scorched streets.
“I am devastated,” said Rodrigo Vera, the mayor of Penco, a city of about 50,000 people, 250 miles South of Santiago, as he described a scene of desperation on Chilean radio on Sunday.
Mr. Vera said that some firefighters were trapped in the fire, and that he had seen others crying on the floor of the command post.
Over 20,000 people had to leave their homes, Mr. Vera said, and emergency crews evacuated patients from a hospital that came under threat.
The mayor issued an appeal to the national government. “I beg you please from the deepest part of my heart: Come help us,” he said.
In the early hours of Sunday, Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a “state of catastrophe” for the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. That allowed the government to deploy the army to these areas, where the fires had already burned over 8,000 hectares of land, almost 20,000 acres.
Chile’s public security minister, Luis Cordero, put the death toll at 16 on Sunday. “There are people who are yet to be located, many of whom may be in shelters,” he said. “The information will be updated progressively as family members report back.”
Chile’s national forestry commission said that there are 24 fires actively being fought nationwide, with the majority in the southern forests. The latest surge of fires has been exacerbated by a heat wave in southern Chile, where temperatures were expected to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) today, and winds of up to 55 miles per hour.
Chile battles wildfires every summer, with most of the fires concentrated over the hottest months, January and February. Last summer, there were 3,018 fires in the country, and this year there have already been 2,825, with the hottest period of the year only beginning.
For this summer season, the government announced in November a budget of about $180 million to fight the fires.
Two years ago, the deadliest wildfires in Chile’s history ravaged the country’s central coastline, killing 135 people and destroying or damaging 8,188 homes. On that occasion, high winds and prolonged drought contributed to the fires sweeping through the hills and causing widespread devastation.
Wildfires have also gripped the Argentine Patagonia in recent weeks, engulfing nearly 30,000 hectares since mid-December, according to Greenpeace. Though they did not claim any lives, the fires burned through native forests, destroying homes across multiple communities and killing wildlife.
Lucía Cholakian Herrera contributed reporting.
Emma Bubola is a Times reporter covering Argentina. She is based in Buenos Aires.
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