Chile declared a state of emergency after a fire that broke out Thursday night in Viña del Mar, in central Chile, killed at least two people and destroyed or damaged 400 homes.
“The president of the Republic [Gabriel Boric] decided to declare a state of emergency due to public calamity” in the Valparaíso region, where Viña del Mar is located, announced the Vice Minister of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
When the state of emergency is activated, the person in charge of national defense can limit constitutional rights and request all the necessary goods for the management of the catastrophe.
The National Emergency Service (ONEMI) declared a red alert in Viña del Mar, a coastal city 120 kilometers north of the capital Santiago de Chile, and ordered the evacuation of several neighborhoods.
The fire, fueled by wind gusts of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour, had not yet been controlled by firefighters and forest brigades during the night of this Thursday.
According to the Chilean National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), the fire consumed more than 110 hectares.
400 firefighters -almost all from Valparaíso- supported by 150 foresters and some units from the Santiago region mobilized to the place.
“The fire started in an area called Nueva Esperanza 2000,” said the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, adding that the flames were advancing “to the north, towards Quinta Vergara.”
Some of the evacuees fled through Quinta Vergara, a large artistic park where the Viña del Mar international music festival is held.
Source: TSF
