Charred Chile asks for the world’s help
SANTIAGO Battling the worst wildfires in its history, Chile is pleading for international assistance after months of trying to bring the deadly blazes under control.
Drought, strong winds and high temperatures have stoked a series of fires in central Chile since November. Environmentalists blame the unusually dry weather on climate change.
Things went from bad to worse when smaller brushfires converged into a massive wildfire that destroyed the town of Santa Olga on Friday, killing 10 people and reducing more than 1000 buildings to smouldering rubble.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has called the fires ‘‘the greatest forest disaster’’ in the country’s history.
‘‘What we have experienced here is literally like Dante’s Inferno,’’ said Carlos Valenzuela, mayor of Constitucion, a town near Santa Olga. ‘‘I believe that this surpasses any tragedy that we have had before.’’
Chilean forestry agency CONAF said the blazes had destroyed nearly 360,000 hectares since November. Most of this was over the past two weeks.
The fires have affected an estimated 3000 people, although the number could rise, as many towns in remote forests have yet to receive aid. Thousands of people have been evacuated. Some have returned to their homes because they fear losing their houses, pastures and livestock.
The carcasses of charred horses, lambs and chickens have been buried in pits to avoid the spread of infectious diseases.
TV images show town dwellers outside their wooden homes, armed with buckets of water, hoping it will be enough to battle the flames. But those efforts are often undone as winds or smouldering ash spread the fires anew.
More than 5000 firefighters have been deployed. The Chilean wife of a Wal-Mart heir has hired a Boeing 747-400 ‘‘Super Tanker’’ capable of dumping nearly 73,000 litres of fire retardant or water, and a similar supertanker aircraft from the Russian government is also assisting local emergency crews. Firefighters from Colombia and Mexico and experts from France and other nations have also been arriving.
Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz said Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Israel, Japan and Sweden had also pledged to help.
Government officials warn that the worst may be yet to come. Chile’s interior ministry said the country could expect higher temperatures and stronger winds in the coming days.
The flames continued spreading from the mountains to the Pacific coast yesterday, on a destructive path that is now dangerously close to the city of Concepcion, about 500 kilometres from the capital, Santiago. REUTERS
About 118 fires remain active, and 53 of those are contained.
The flames picked up near two residential condominiums in Concepcion. Residents of one of the condos, which is located behind a hill of pines, used garden hoses to dampen the streets while firefighters contained the flames. AP, Washington Post