Wildfire survivor recalls ‘rush of flames’ in Chile
CHILE: Rodrigo Pulgar was at home listening to news of the wildfires devastating parts of Chile when flames suddenly started overwhelming his neighborhood.
“It was hell,” the 61-year-old recalled, what had been a peaceful, scenic area. “I tried to help my neighbor ... [then] my house was starting to burn. Ash was raining down on us.”
As a precaution, Pulgar had sprayed water on his wooden roof, preventing the flames from consuming his home. His neighbors in the community of 13,000 people were not so lucky, as dozens of houses were reduced to blackened walls.
The majority of residents are “older people. And my neighbor died because we couldn’t get her out,” Pulgar said.
El Olivar is just outside Vina del Mar, known for a music festival and its beaches, which was devastated by a wildfire Friday that killed dozens of people and left bodies in the streets.
Wildfires continued raging across Chile, which have killed at least 46 people, officials said Saturday, leaving bodies in the street and homes gutted as flames continued to spread.
President Gabriel Boric has decreed a state of emergency in the central and southern parts of the country “due to catastrophe,” as dry conditions and temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) exacerbated the crisis.
“There are 40 people who were killed in the fire, and another six [who died] as a result of burns,” Boric said after he surveyed the affected region via helicopter Saturday afternoon.
“We know that these [numbers] will increase,” he added.
After the flight he promised, “We will be there as a government to help them get back up [on their feet].”
Dense gray smoke blanketed the Vina del Mar area of the Valparaiso tourist region along central Chile’s coastline, forcing residents to flee their homes.
Authorities have imposed a curfew beginning at 9 p.m. (0000 GMT) Saturday to allow emergency supplies — especially fuel — into the affected areas. New evacuation orders were issued, though it remained unclear exactly how many people had been told to leave.
Several thousand hectares have burned in Valparaiso alone, according to Conaf, the Chilean national forest authority.
Images from trapped motorists have gone viral online, showing mountains in flames at the end of the famous “Route 68,” a road traveled by thousands of tourists to reach the Pacific coast.
The fires are being driven by a summer heatwave and drought affecting the southern part of South America caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, as scientists warn that a warming planet has increased the risk of natural disasters such as intense heat and fires.
As Chile and Colombia battle rising temperatures, the heat wave is also threatening to sweep over Paraguay and Brazil.