Wildfires sweep through communities in southern Chile

(MENAFN) Fierce wildfires swept through southern Chile over the weekend, leaving devastation in their path and claiming at least 18 lives, officials reported Sunday. More than 50,000 residents have been forced to evacuate from areas in the Nuble and Biobio regions, roughly 500 kilometers south of Santiago, as high temperatures and strong winds fueled the blazes.

Matias Cid, a 25-year-old student from Penco, described the emergency: “We had to leave with the shirts on our back. If we had stayed another 20 minutes we would have burned to death.” He recounted how the fast-moving flames destroyed homes overnight. Video footage shows streets littered with burned vehicles and the remains of houses.

Penco has suffered the majority of fatalities so far, according to Mayor Rodrigo Vera. President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency in both Nuble and Biobio, enabling the deployment of the armed forces to support firefighting operations. Boric confirmed that nearly 4,000 firefighters are battling the blazes. “All resources are available,” he wrote on X.

Boric visited Concepcion, a city heavily affected by the fires, stating, “We have a confirmed number of 18 deaths today, but we are certain that this number will increase.” Alicia Cebrian, director of the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response, reported that most evacuations occurred in Penco and Lirquen, towns with a combined population of around 60,000.

Residents of Lirquen, a small port town, fled to the beach for safety. Alejandro Arredondo, 57, surveyed the destruction, saying, “There is nothing left standing.” High temperatures and strong winds are expected to continue, posing further challenges for firefighters, according to Esteban Krause, head of a forest preservation agency in Biobio.

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