Fires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames<\/b>
\nFires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames
Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile have killed at least 15 people, scorched thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heatwave.
Chile\u2019s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a state of catastrophe in the country\u2019s central Biob\u00edo region and the neighbouring \u00d1uble region, about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital.
The emergency designation allows greater coordination with the military to rein in two dozen wildfires that have so far blazed through 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) and prompted 50,000 people to evacuate, according to the Chilean security minister, Luis Cordero.
But local officials reported that for hours on Sunday, destruction was everywhere and help from the federal government was nowhere.
\u201cDear president Boric, from the bottom of my heart, I have been here for four hours, a community is burning and there is no [government] presence,\u201d said Rodrigo Vera, the mayor of the small coastal town of Penco in the Biob\u00edo region. \u201cHow can a minister do nothing but call me to tell me that the military is going to arrive at some point?\u201d
Firefighters were struggling to extinguish the flames, but strong winds and scorching weather hampered their efforts Sunday with temperatures topping 38C (100F).
Residents said the fires took them by surprise after midnight, trapping them in their homes.
\u201cMany people didn\u2019t evacuate. They stayed in their houses because they thought the fire would stop at the edge of the forest,\u201d said John Guzm\u00e1n, 55, surveying the scene in Penco, where smoke blanketed the sky in an orange haze. \u201cIt was completely out of control. No one expected it.\u201d
Although the total number of homes burned nationwide remained unclear, one municipality of Concepci\u00f3n in Biob\u00edo reported 253 homes destroyed.
Juan Lagos, 52, also in Penco, said: \u201cWe fled running, with the kids, in the dark.\u201d The fire engulfed most of the city, burning cars, a school and a church.
Charred bodies were found across fields, in homes, along roads and in cars.
\u201cFrom what we can see, there are people who died . and we knew them well,\u201d said V\u00edctor Burboa, 54. \u201cEveryone here knew them.\u201d
Matias Cid, a 25-year-old student who lives in Penco, described fast-moving flames burning through the night and devouring homes.
\u201cWe had to leave with the shirts on our back. If we had stayed another 20 minutes we would have burned to death,\u201d Cid told AFP.
All but one of the fatalities so far were in Penco, Vera said.
Lirqu\u00e9n, a small port town, was also hit hard, with many people saving themselves by rushing to the beach, said resident Alejandro Arredondo, 57.
\u201cThere is nothing left standing,\u201d he added as he surveyed a burning landscape of metal and wood that used to be people\u2019s homes.<\/p>\n