Wildfires burning in Chile are among the deadliest in country’s record

Fires in central and southern Chile, exacerbated by extreme temperatures and widespread drought, have killed at least 26 people and burned more than 2,700 square kilometers.

To James Dineen

At least 26 people have died and nearly 2,000 have been injured in wildfires in central and southern Chile, the country’s deadliest wildfires on record.

The fire is burning over more than 2,700 square kilometers as of February 7, according to a release from the European Union’s Earth Observation Program Copernicus. According to Chile’s disaster response agency SENAPRED, more than 1,000 houses had collapsed and 280 houses were still on fire as of February 6.

Already, 2017 is the country’s second most devastating fire season on record, with thousands of fires burning more than 5,700 square kilometers and killing at least 11 people. Most of Chile’s forest fires occur in January and February, the height of summer in the southern hemisphere.

More than 6000 Chilean firefighters took part in fighting the blaze. Brigades from Spain, Mexico and Argentina are also helping to fight the fire, along with more than 70 planes and helicopters.

Extreme temperatures and years of drought have contributed to the scale and intensity of the fires.

Chile’s Central Valley meteorological station reported record or near-record temperatures above 40°C (104°F) over the weekend, said Rene Gallo of the University of Chile in Santiago. High temperatures and strong winds are forecast for the next few days. “Meteorology is against us,” says Garreaud.

According to Garoud, the extreme temperatures are due to a naturally recurring warm “pulche wind” blowing from the east, superimposed on a temperate climate. The past decade has been the warmest on record in Chile, he says. A huge drought in the region — the driest on record in Chile in the past decade — has also contributed to the fires, he said.

The fires mainly affected the Maule, Nubre, Biobio and Araucania regions, which contain most of Chile’s forest plantations. In addition to heat and drought, additional fuel loads from plantation trees have also increased areas at risk of fire.

Mark Parrington of Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Services said the fire’s intensity was reflected in the plumes of smoke billowing over the Pacific Ocean. The service estimates that the fires have released 4 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere so far, leading to the highest carbon emissions in two decades in some areas.