2024-02-03 22:30:00
(Cnn in Spanish) — The number of fatalities from the fires in Valparaíso, Chile, rose to 46, reported Gabriel Boric, the country’s president.
40 people died during the fires and 6 more while being treated in hospitals for burns, Boric said in appearance.
Earlier, Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá reported damage to at least 1,100 homes and told reporters the numbers could rise as authorities enter hard-to-reach areas.
They declare a curfew
Previously, President Boric decreed a state of constitutional exception for the provinces of Marga Marga and Valparaíso due to forest fires, reported this Saturday the presidential delegate of the Valparaíso region, Sofía González Cortés.
The official added that a curfew was also established between 08:00 am (local time) and midday in the communes of Limache, Villa Alemana, Quilpué, and Viña del Mar with the purpose of facilitating the deployment of logistical means. and emergency means.
On Friday, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred) reported that Valparaíso and Marga Marga were declared on red alert due to three forest fires that until that moment had affected a total of about 565 hectares.
The most extensive fire so far, according to Friday’s report, is the one that is developing in the Las Tablas complex and the Lago Peñuelas reserve, in Valparaíso, where 480 hectares have been affected, Senapred indicated in an information bulletin.
The other two fires are in Lo Moscoso, in the Quilpé and Villa Alemana communes, where 80 hectares are being affected, and on the Dos Locas road, also in Valparaíso, the damage is 5 hectares.
Senapred reported that due to this situation, the evacuation of some sectors of the Villa Alemana commune was ordered.
CNN has not been able to know if the fires have left people injured or dead.
Boric said on his account on the social network X that government forces are deployed to control the fires. He also reported that he ordered the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, to hold this Saturday, at 12:30 am (local time), a meeting of the Risk and Disaster Management Committee (Cogrid).
Boric asked citizens to heed the instructions of the authorities and avoid exposing themselves to risks.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information.
With information from Omar Fajardo, Marlon Sorto and Michael Ríos.
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