Fire and explosions, the “hell” of a fire-stricken city in Chile.

first Amendment: 02/03/2024 – 23:29Last change: 02/04/2024 – 01:17

3 minutes

Driver Rodrigo Pulgar, 61, was paying attention to emergency news at his home when flames began moving toward his community.

“It was hell, the explosion. I tried to help a neighbor turn off his car, my house started burning from behind. It was raining ash,” the man told AFP.

Just moments before, as a precaution, he had sprinkled water inside his house and on the wooden roof, which prevented the fire from spreading. His neighbors did not suffer the same fate.

Dozens of houses were transformed into black walls. Most of the people here, Pulgar said, “are old people. The neighbor died because we couldn’t get him out.”

As Friday afternoon approached, the flames reached Viña del Mar. According to local officials, 19 people have died in the Villa Independência sector alone.

President Gabriel Boric confirmed on Saturday that the total number of deaths from the fire was at least 46, adding that he predicted the figure would “increase”.

Located 10 km from the epicenter of the tragedy, El Oliver, a residential area of ​​about 13,000 inhabitants, mostly in wooden-roofed houses, was experiencing its own drama.

According to a brigade member of the National Forestry Corporation, the wind brought burning leaves from the hills, causing the fire to multiply amid the high temperatures of the southern summer.

Mayor Macarena Ripamonti assured that her city was facing “an unprecedented disaster”.

“My city was burning”

Stories and images of explosions in cars parked in front of houses in narrow streets abound on social media.

The hills burned again this Saturday and new evacuation alerts were issued. As per the latest report, 92 fires have been recorded, of which 40 have already been brought under control.

Relief forces are fighting 29 outbreaks with the help of helicopters and planes.

Anna Karina was working in a supermarket several kilometers from her home when she discovered that El Oliver was burning.

Panic gripped him. Her 14-year-old son was alone at home with his pet. “All I thought was that my son is dead, my son has been burnt,” he says.

Wracked with pain, she remembers walking for several minutes until she was picked up by a bus, which was about to burst into flames.

On reaching his neighbourhood, he had to pass through a road engulfed in fire. She eventually found her son outside the house along with his dog Luna, who had managed to save herself from the fire.

Kareena says, “Last year my father passed away and the only thing I was screaming for was for my father to take care of my son.”

Since 2017, Chile has been experiencing massive wildfires, which have reached populated areas of Valparaíso and other regions. The fire has spread to built-up areas at non-occupied sites.

In Quilpué, near a highway into Valparaíso, about 15 kilometers from El Oliver, dozens of families lost homes they had built in unauthorized areas, according to AFP.

© 2024 AFP