About a dozen fires broke out on February 2, and their extinguishing continued the next day. Most of the fires are in the tourist regions of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso: the fire has destroyed thousands of hectares of forest, coastal cities today in thick fog. There are dozens of dead.
Forest fires are spreading rapidly in Chile
Due to rapidly spreading forest fires, a state of emergency has been declared in Chile: at least 19 people have died, more than 43,000 hectares of land have been affected
This is reported by France24.
It is indicated that about a dozen fires broke out on Friday, February 2, and their extinguishing continued the next day. Most of the fires are in the tourist regions of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso : the fire destroyed thousands of hectares of forest, submerged coastal cities in thick fog. People were forced to leave their homes.
According to officials, as of February 3, about 10 people are known to have died. Fires also destroyed about 30 houses. According to the Chilean National Forestry Administration, only in Valparaiso, which called the fires "extreme", about 7,000 hectares burned.
Chilean President Gabriel Borich declared a "state of emergency due to the disaster in order to have all the necessary resources" to fight the fires.
Later, it became known that at least 19 people died as a result of forest fires in the coastal tourist town of Vina del Mar. This is reported by Reuters.
Chile's Interior Minister Carolina Toja said the death toll could rise in the coming hours as rescue teams reach more affected areas.
According to her, there were 92 active fires throughout the country, as a result of which more than 43 thousand hectares of land were affected.
Reports about the dead are very preliminary, Toha said. - We have reports from other places where there are indications that the death toll may be higher, but we have no confirmation on the ground.
Toha stressed that the biggest concern for authorities is that some of the active fires are developing very close to urban areas "with a very high potential for impact on people, homes and facilities."
40 hectares of forest are burning in the Czech Republic
A forest fire broke out in the area of Pisek in the Czech Republic on July 16, 2023, and it has already affected about 40 hectares of forest.
As a result of fighting the fire, five firefighters were injured, they did not need hospitalization.
Three helicopters help extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire and the amount of damage are still unknown.
The fight against the fire was helped by the rain that passed on Sunday morning.
Also, the rescuers are eliminating the foci of fire in the forest near the city of Sokolov (Karlovary region), which broke out on Saturday.
The presence of fire cells is checked with the help of thermal imagers. The fire spread to the tops of the trees, which makes extinguishing difficult.
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