Chilean authorities over the weekend arrested Francisco Mondaca, a 22-year-old volunteer firefighter, and Franco Pinto, a former forestry service employee, who prosecutors have accused of starting devastating fires in central Chile in February that killed 137 people and left more than 16,000 homeless.
Chile declared a state of emergency in February. exterior More than 100 fires have broken out in the central Valparaiso region, causing widespread damage. President Gabriel Bolick Explained The situation is the worst tragedy since 2010, when an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 500 people and injured thousands in Chile.
Some media Reports Reports released at the time blamed the “wildfires” on drought and climate change, but Chilean authorities launched an extensive investigation to determine the cause and origin of the deadly blazes, which is still ongoing.
The lead prosecutor in the case, Osvaldo Ossandon, Announced On Saturday, Francisco Mondaca, a 22-year-old volunteer firefighter who is accused of starting the fire, and Franco Pinto, a former employee of the Chilean National Forestry Company (CONAF), who is accused of planning the blaze, were arrested.
While authorities continue to investigate, the two suspects have been placed under preventive arrest for 180 days and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that other people may have been involved in the alleged arson.
After nearly four months of investigation and evidence gathering – including surveillance camera footage, cell phone antenna logs and recordings of incendiary devices found at the fire scene – Chilean prosecutors found that Moncada and Pinto had been planning to start the massive blaze for at least four months.
According to the investigation, Pinto taught Mondaca how to build a simple incendiary device, which the 22-year-old used to create four incendiary lights, two of which were managed by local fire officials, and two of which sparked the deadly fires in Valparaiso.
Prosecutors denied any mental illness linked to the pyromania of either defendant and suggested the motive for the arson was economic, as Pinto had told Moncada he would benefit financially from starting multiple fires to secure work.
Chilean Newspapers La Tercera report Prosecutors said Sunday they had obtained a copy of the testimony Mondaca gave to Chilean prosecutors after his arrest, a testimony that was reportedly crucial in prosecutors determining how the deadly fire started.
In his testimony, Moncada described Pinto as a “friend” and claimed that on Feb. 2, he told him that heat and windy weather conditions were “right” to start a fire.
“So we agreed that that morning I would go to the Las Tablas neighborhood and to Camino Viejo a Santiago and start a fire by throwing the fire starter that Franco had shown me how to make at another fire. [Pinto] “They told me to wrap a match around the cigarette and tie it with string,” Mondaca was quoted as saying.
Moncada further stated that he left his home on Feb. 2 in a car that belonged to his aunt’s deceased husband and had been driving it since January. Moncada claimed that he used the car to buy cigarettes and to use the cigarettes to make the “fire-starting device” that Pinto allegedly showed him how to make.
The 22-year-old noted that he ended up placing the incendiary device in his car and driving through the planned area, throwing the device along the way using a “technique” he learned from a former forestry official, who reportedly claimed it would take about 10 minutes for the device to start burning.
“I thought maybe there was an ignition device there already so I tried to run away from the scene,” Mondaca said, adding that he then circled the area where he had thrown the device. After noticing smoke coming from an area, he began driving at a “high speed” toward the headquarters of the 13th Valparaiso Fire Brigade, where he worked as a volunteer.
Mondaca claimed in his testimony that he did not speak to or see Pinto after he threw the devices on February 2, and concluded that he did not use all of the incendiary devices he made that day, storing the rest in a box in his bedroom, which police reportedly later found at the time of his arrest.
Juan Carlos Field, Chief of the Chilean Fire Department Commented Field spoke about the arrests of the two suspects in an interview on Monday and lamented the situation on behalf of all of Chile’s roughly 57,600 firefighters. He asserted that “nothing as horrific as this has ever happened” in the fire service’s more than 170-year history.
Field stated As a result, the Chilean firefighters organization will seek to raise the standards required for volunteers who want to join the organization, reiterating statements from Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Toja, who previously said the organization was considering psychological testing requirements for would-be volunteers.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan author documenting life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter. here.
