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On Friday, a Chilean official predicted that a huge fire that broke out on Thursday, killing two and injuring 30, would be brought under control “during the day”, destroying dozens of homes in the central city of Viña del Mar.
“We expect the fire to be under control during the day,” Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalvi said.
But daylight showed the grim vision of the devastation caused by the fire that broke out in the seaside city on Thursday, fanned by strong winds.
“We lost everything, papers and our car,” said Oscar Gonzalez, a city resident, noting that the biggest loss was the death of his dog.
And at noon yesterday, Friday, the authorities announced that the outcome of the fire was the death of two people, an 85-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, and 30 others were injured and 130 homes were destroyed.
The strong winds fueled the fire, which started from the heights of the city and spread towards the vineyards and hills, reaching the most densely populated areas of Viña del Mar, located 120 km from the capital Santiago.
Monsalvi explained that the fire broke out in an area of 125 hectares.
Daniel Velazquez, 66, referred to “houses burning one by one,” adding: “Everything is burned.”
Monsalvi previously said that “the President of the Republic (Gabriel Boric) has decided to declare a state of emergency due to a general catastrophe” in the Valparaiso region, where Viña del Mar is located.
“The response to the outbreak of the fire was very rapid, but … it expanded strongly and rapidly,” he said.
The spread of the fire was increased by wind speeds of between 40 and 50 km/h, which put more than 400 firefighters and 150 forest rangers called to put out the fire into difficulties.
Burek tried to reassure those affected. “We will not leave you,” he said in a tweet.
On Friday, weary residents were searching through the smoldering rubble for belongings that may have been spared from the flames.
Evelyn Arancibia stressed in a statement to AFP that the speed of the fire’s expansion did not allow anything to be saved, and said: “It was hell.”
