Chile firefighters battle to contain devastating blaze in Vina del Mar
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Chilean officials say at least 130 homes were destroyed in a fire in Vina del Mar, northwest of the capital Santiago.
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Officials said at least 130 homes were destroyed by the fire in Vina del Mar. (Sputnik)
Chilean firefighters battled on Friday to contain a blaze that ravaged scores of homes in a coastal resort city, killing two people.
Officials said at least 130 homes were destroyed by the fire in Vina del Mar, northwest of the capital Santiago.
President Gabriel Boric arrived at Vina del Mar on Friday afternoon to head an emergency meeting and visit affected areas.
"They can rest assured that we will not abandon them," Boric said, underscoring the need to redouble prevention efforts at the start of a particularly hot, dry Southern Hemisphere summer.
"In our country we are standing on a powder keg. What happened (in Vina del Mar) could happen elsewhere," he underlined.
Officials have given shifting assessments of the fire's toll. As of Friday afternoon, they said two people had died -- an 85-year-old woman and a man of 62. Thirty people were injured and 130 houses and 125 hectares of land were destroyed.
Situación extremadamente compleja a esta hora en #ViñadelMar se solicita a las personas ubicadas en zona de peligro evacuar y liberar el tránsito a vehículos de emergencia. Seguir indicaciones autoridades locales. Siguen saliendo unidades apoyo desde Santiago y otras provincias. pic.twitter.com/i7CELURDVR
— Red de Emergencia ONG (@reddeemergencia) December 23, 2022
Vina del Mar Mayor Macarena Ripamonti said the number of homes lost in the region, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Santiago, was probably much higher.
Several neighborhoods were evacuated. The government declared a state of emergency in the larger Valparaiso region.
Wind gusts of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour complicated the work of more than 400 firefighters and 150 forest rangers deployed to battle it with the help of 10 helicopters.
