Helicopters dropped tons of water on wildfires raging in central Chile, and emergency workers said they were still finding bodies three days after the blaze broke out.
Official death toll from Chile’s worst natural disaster in years On Monday, that number had increased to 123, said Marisol Prado, head of Chile’s forensic services. That number was expected to rise as residents, firefighters and the military scramble to clear the debris.
The forest fire gained strength on Friday and spread through residential areas in the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, producing sparks and fireballs that consumed homes within minutes.
“It’s a war zone, like a bomb went off,” said Jacqueline Atenas, 63. Jacqueline Atenas fled his home in nearby Villa Independencia on Friday and returned to the wreckage on Monday carrying his only possession, a small pink backpack. Can be saved.
“It burned as if someone had poured gasoline on the house. I can’t understand what happened…The wind was strong and a big fireball came flying.”
Down the street, Luis Parra said he and his wife and grandchildren barely managed to escape. By the time he saw the sparks reach his home, the power was out and he was unable to open the gate to drive away.
They managed to jump into a friend’s car and flee. However, his sister and his blind father died. Their bodies were discovered several blocks from their home. “I never thought something like this would happen,” Parra said.
Other residents of Villa Independencia, a working-class neighborhood in Viña del Mar, spoke of strong winds and fast-moving inferno.
Ingrid Crespo, 59, said she first saw the fire in the distance Friday and then saw it jump from hill to hill.
“There were sparks flying and hurricane force winds,” Crespo said. Seeing sparks flying, she started pouring water on the roof, but it was too late to save her home.
She ran away wearing nothing but her sandals. Many of her neighbors were killed. Her cat and dog died in the fire.
“When my son came on Sunday, there was a dead body,” Crespo said. “There are a lot of dead people.”
Chile began a two-day official mourning period on Monday. Officials say hundreds of people are still missing and about 14,000 homes were damaged.
Drone footage from the Viña del Mar area showed entire neighborhoods scorched, with tin roofs collapsing and residents scavenging the burnt shells of houses. Burnt cars littered the road.
On Sunday night, Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve said there were still 165 fires active, up from 154 on Saturday. A curfew was imposed in the worst-hit areas, and the military was deployed to help firefighters contain the spread of the virus.
Monsalve said slightly cooler temperatures and cloud cover could allow authorities to extinguish the fire within a few days.
“High temperatures will continue, but they will not be extremely high,” Monsalve told a news conference.
Chile’s Investigative Police (PDI) said it was investigating areas where the fire may have been intentionally started.
Chile, Argentina and other parts of South America’s Southern Cone are facing severe heat waves, and experts predict more heat waves will occur during the Southern Hemisphere summer due to climate change.
Chile’s extreme weather is exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon, which warms the Pacific Ocean.
Jessica Barrios, who lost her home in Viña del Mar, told Reuters over the weekend that the fire came “from one moment to the next.”
“The fire reached Botanical Gardens and 10 minutes later it was already upon us,” she said. “There was smoke, the sky was black, everything was pitch black. The wind felt like a hurricane. It felt like we were in hell.”
