Chile declares emergency after wildfires force 20,000 to evacuate

Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency on Sunday for two southern regions where raging wildfires have forced about 20,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Firefighters were battling 19 blazes across the country, 12 of which were in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío, south of the capital Santiago.

"In the face of the ongoing serious fires, I have decided to declare a state of natural disaster for the Ñuble and Biobío regions," the left-wing president said in a post on X. "All resources are available."

The government has not said whether the fires killed anyone or how many homes had been impacted.

Alicia Cebrián, the director of the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response, told local media that about 20,000 people had been evacuated.

She said most of the evacuations were in the Biobío cities of Penco and Lirquén, which have a combined population of around 60,000 people.

Images broadcast by local television showed the flames in both cities, with charred cars in the streets.

Wildfires have severely impacted south-central Chile in recent years.

In February 2024, several fires broke out simultaneously near the city of Vina del Mar, northwest of Santiago, resulting in 138 deaths, according to the public prosecutor's office.

About 16,000 people were affected by those fires, authorities said.

– TIMES/AFP