Photos | Houses turned to ashes. Fires in Chile are still out of control

Said Alicia Ciprian, Director of the National Authority for Disaster Prevention and Response (Sinapred). "The largest fires remain out of control"

Chile fires

The fires broke out on Saturday in the provinces of Nuebla and Vivio, located about 500 kilometers south of the capital, Santiago, in the midst of the southern summer season, which is characterized by high temperatures and strong winds.

President Gabriel Boric visited the region to supervise firefighting operations, noting that "Tonight was better than expected"However, he expressed his concern about the possibility of worsening the situation, confirming his account on the platform "X" The weather conditions are not good, so it is possible that fires will break out again.

Meteorology in the two regions expected the temperature to exceed 30 degrees Celsius.

Declaration of emergency

A state of emergency was declared in the provinces of Neubele and Fiofio on Sunday, allowing the deployment of the army. A nightly curfew was imposed in the most affected areas of Viovio.

The fires were particularly concentrated in the towns of Benco and Lerquin, which are close to the city of Concepcion.

Yagora Vasquez, a resident of Lerquin, told AFP "The situation is terrible. I tried to dampen the house as much as possible, but I saw the flames approaching our neighborhood. I grabbed my son and we ran away"

Forest fires in Chile

And on Monday morning, the streets of the aforementioned neighborhood were filled with scenes of burning cars and houses turned to ashes.

President Gabriel Boric will meet with President-elect José Antonio Caste, who takes office on March 11.

Chile has been witnessing forest fires for years, especially in the south-central region, where the risks are exacerbated by heat waves and strong winds.