in the middle of a heat wave, spectacular fires ravage the center of the country

Numerous forest fires continue to rage in central Chile. The human toll from these fires was 24 dead and more than 1,182 injured, authorities announced on Sunday February 5. The government has declared a state of disaster in several regions of the center of the country, an agricultural and forest area where scenes of desolation are multiplying. Plots reduced to ashes, animals lying lifeless and inhabitants whose houses have been reduced to ashes … Franceinfo returns in images to these fires, which have already covered some 270,000 hectares in five days.

Fires fueled by extreme conditions

While the southern hemisphere is in the middle of the summer season, Chile has observed temperatures close to 40°C. Conditions conducive to fires, in a country plagued by drought for several years. The region around the city of Concepcion, in the center of the country, but also that of Araucania, further south, have been particularly affected. During the day, the air filled with smoke, while at night, the flames gave the sky an apocalyptic air.

On Twitter, the account of the Chilean firefighters shows the conditions of the fight against the flames, in particular in the region of Ñuble, in the center of the country, where firefighters called from other regions converge.

A total of 3,800 firefighters are deployed in the regions of Ñuble, Biobio and Araucanía, Chilean firefighters said on Twitter on Sunday.

In these images published on Saturday, firefighters face particularly difficult conditions, with here powerful gusts which facilitate the spread of fires.

Spectacular damage

Striking images posted on social networks have been widely reported by the Chilean press. This was the case, for example, with this video of flames spreading under the road, captured in the Quillon region and taken up by The Clinic* site. Or even this fire tornado, filmed on February 4 and shared – among others – by national television.

Fires visible from the sky

A commercial airline pilot, who was flying over the city of Temuco, posted impressive photos of the fires seen from the sky, taken up here by the 24horas.cl* site.

These images echo other aerial shots, taken this time above the town of Puren, about 150 km from Temuco.

By taking even more height, the plumes of smoke resulting from these fires are visible from space.

Homes affected

In Santa Juana, in the province of Biobio, ten people lost their lives in the fires, including five members of the same family. “It was hell”testified Maria Ines to AFP. “Most of the houses were destroyed because we received no help. With air help, we could have saved most of the houses”lamented this resident of this city of 13,000 inhabitants, about fifty kilometers from Concepcion, the regional capital.

In this video, shared by a journalist from Radio Cooperativa, a family films themselves from the swimming pool of their house, surrounded by flames. Asked the next day by the T13* channel, the mother present on the scene speaks of a “unbearable heat”. Around the basin, everything is nothing more than a heap of ashes.

“It’s a very rough and poorly served terrain”, explained Saturday Ana Albornoz, mayor of Santa Juana. Aerial images, tweeted by this same journalist, show the extent of the damage.

On Sunday, the flames had destroyed the homes of more than 800 residents of Santa Juana.

The fire extends over the entire center of the country and reaches, to the south, the limits of Chilean Patagonia. Sunday morning, the firefighters of the locality of Puerto Montt tweeted a photo of businesses ravaged by flames in this city of more than 200,000 inhabitants.

In Vilcun, the evacuation of residents took place in panic, as evidenced by this video shared on social networks and mentioned here by the local news site El Periodico*.

Animals threatened by the flames

The animals that live in the forests ravaged by the flames are the first victims of the fires. On Thursday, a firefighter saved a pudu, an animal native to South America, in the Juan Chico sector, near Concepcion. In Chile, this small animal of the deer family is considered endangered, and is on the list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (site in English).

In the city of Santa Juana, veterinary personnel have been sent as reinforcements to provide on-site support, said Saturday a press release from Colmevet *, the national veterinary college.

On Twitter, Conaf, the national structure that manages the country’s forests, finally shared on Sunday pictures of pets* rescued after being found locked in a warehouse.

* Links followed by an asterisk are in Spanish.