Authorities in Chile have confirmed that a serious fire in the city of Viña del Mar, in the Valparaíso region, has already claimed the lives of at least one person and injured 30 others.
According to the data provided by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, the deceased is an 85 year old citizen. Regarding the injured, he detailed that 27 are civilians and the other three are firemen.
Likewise, the undersecretary Monsalve said that the flames have affected about 130 houses, a figure considerably lower than the 500 homes destroyed which were mentioned in the first report, drawn up only according to the assessments of the agencies involved in the emergency operations.
«During the course of the night there were institutions whose assessment was that 400 or 500 homes were being affected. We are using as a source the information of the Municipality of Viña del Mar», explained Monsalve, according to the Chilean newspaper ‘La Tercera’.
The Chilean government decreed on Thursday night a constitutional state of emergency as a result of the fires that are raging in the city of Viña del Mar, where at this time there are still three active outbreaks.
According to the Chilean President, Gabriel Boric, the measure will allow the Government to have all the «necessary» tools to fight the fires, since it grants it the power to take control and requisition all goods, in order to be able to confront «the emergency in Viña del Mar».
Boric also called on the citizens to support the work of the emergency services and the security forces by following the recommendations of prevention and care in the event of forest fires.
The Ministers of the Interior, Social Development and Agriculture; Carolina Tohá, Giorgio Jackson and Esteban Valenzuela, respectively, have confirmed that they will travel to Valparaíso to participate in a regional committee to address the situation.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
