Chile braces for higher death toll as wildfires spread: ‘it’s hell’

Forest fires raging in central Chile have killed at least 51 people and the death toll is likely to keep climbing, authorities said, as emergency services battled to snuff out flames threatening urban areas.

Black smoke billowed into the sky over many parts of the Valparaiso region, home to nearly 1 million inhabitants in central Chile, while firefighters using helicopters and trucks struggled to quell the fires.

Areas around the coastal tourist city of Vina del Mar were some of the hardest hit, and rescue teams were struggling to reach all the affected areas, Chilean authorities said.

Rodrigo Pulgar was at home listening to news of the devastating wildfires when flames suddenly began rushing over his community.

“It was hell,” the 61-year-old said in El Olivar, what had been a peaceful, scenic area, just outside Vina del Mar. “I tried to help my neighbour … [then] my house was starting to burn. Ash was raining down on us.”

As a precaution, Pulgar had sprayed water on his wooden roof, which prevented the flames from consuming his home.

His neighbours in the community of 13,000 people were not so lucky – dozens of houses were reduced to blackened walls.

The majority of residents are “older people. And my neighbour died, because we couldn’t get her out”, Pulgar said.

The death toll in the wildfires rose when five bodies were found on public roads, and information indicates “we are going to reach much higher figures” in coming hours, said Interior Minister Carolina Toha.

“The condition of Valparaiso is the most delicate,” Toha said, saying the country was facing its worst disaster since a 2010 earthquake that killed about 500.

President Gabriel Boric told the nation in a televised address: “The situation is really very difficult.”

Vina del Mar Mayor Macarena Ripamonti said her city faced “an unprecedented catastrophe”.

Anna Karina was working in a supermarket several kilometres from her home when she learned that El Olivar was burning.

Panic gripped her. Her 14-year-old son was home alone with their dog. “The only thing I thought was that my son was dead, that my son was burned,” she said.

Seized with anguish, she started walking toward home until managing to hop on a bus, which was then almost trapped by flames.

Once in her neighbourhood, she had to cross a burning street. To her great relief, she found her son and dog outside their home, which was still standing.

“My father passed away last year and the only thing I was screaming for was for my father to take care of my son,” Karina said.

Wildfires are not uncommon in Chile over summer months. Last year, on the back of a record heat wave, some 27 people died and more than 400,000 hectares (990,000 acres) were affected.

This year they are driven by a heatwave and drought affecting the southern part of South America caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon, as scientists warn that a warming planet has increased the risk of natural disasters such as intense heat and fires.

“The area with fires today is much smaller than last year, [but] at this time the number of hectares affected is multiplying very rapidly,” Interior Minister Toha said.

Between Friday and Saturday, the area affected by the wildfires increased to 43,000 hectares (110,000 acres) from 30,000.

Toha said the authorities’ greatest concern was that some of the active fires were developing very close to urban areas “with the very high potential to affect people, homes and facilities”.