Less heat and reduction of sources improve wave of fires in southern Chile

A slight change in weather conditions, with a small drop in temperature and more humidity, has improved the evolution of the wave of forest fires that is hitting various regions of central-southern Chile.

“We are in a better situation,” said the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, this Saturday after the meeting of the National Committee for Disaster Risk Management (Cogrid), and recalled that at some point in this crisis there were “86 new fires in one day”.

According to the latest balance of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Sernapred), released this Saturday, 312 fires continue to burn in the affected areas, 16 less than in the last report last night. Of the total, 98 fires are still fighting and another 174 are under control.

The forecasts indicate that “the big fires will not be put out at least until the end of the month,” Tohá warned.

So far, the region of La Araucanía is where the most open sources remain, with 145 fires, of which 40 are in combat. In this region, the first emergency curfew was declared during the early hours of this Friday, which left a total of 22 detainees.

The restriction also applies to eight other communes in the Ñuble region and eight more in the Biobío region, both also heavily affected by the flames.

Accident

This Saturday morning, an aircraft contracted by the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf), which was carrying out extinction work in the Biobío Region, capsized in the Hualqui commune, in an accident of unknown origin, according to the Ministry of the Interior in a release.

The 51-year-old pilot “is fine, only with a few injuries,” and was transferred to the Carriel Sur airport in the city of Concepción, where an ambulance took him to the Andes Salud clinic in the same city, he explained. the Ministry in the note.

Nearly 600 people from abroad are currently deployed in the areas, including experts, brigade members, firefighters and other specialists, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Friday night.

“This number will rise to close to 800 in the coming days. In addition, equipment and logistical and financial support material from different countries have arrived,” they added from the Foreign Ministry.

The countries that have cooperated with Chile in this emergency are Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, the United States, Israel, Japan, Mexico and Venezuela; and in the coming days the aid sent from France and Portugal will be added, together with new contributions from Brazil and Spain.

This Saturday, the Minister of Economy, Nicolás Grau, insisted on Boric’s words: “The forestry industry is important for the country and so are other industries, other vocations and other interests in the regions with which there must be a relationship harmonica”, he pointed out during a visit to the region of La Araucanía.

The forest fires in the south-central zone of the country left 24 people dead, and have already consumed almost 400,000 hectares, 1,300 houses were destroyed and 5,576 victims are already counted.