Valparaíso fire displaces thousands, kills at least a dozen

Monday, April 14, 2014

Photo of the blaze, Saturday night.
Image: Diego Grez.
*(Image missing from Commons: image; log)*

At least twelve people have been killed, and over ten thousand evacuated from the Chilean city of Valparaíso, following an ongoing fire sweeping across parts of the city.

The fire, which began on Saturday in woods on one of Valparaíso's hills, has razed at least five hundred houses. 1,200 fire personnel are tackling the blaze, whilst members of the Chilean Navy have been deployed to discourage looting. Many residences of the affected area have no water supply, and are joined by narrow winding streets; yesterday firefighters dropped water on the flames from seventeen aircraft.

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet declared an emergency, with the army coordinating the evacuation. She called the blaze a "tremendous tragedy", noting, "In some places the fires have started again so we're working on this and people will continue to be protected".

One resident told the Reuters news agency, "[w]e fled from the La Cruz neighborhood, from an apartment I just got not too long ago. It’s all burned down, my sister’s house also burnt to the ground".

Shelters have been erected to house the thousands fleeing the inferno, and hospitals have been treating hundreds for smoke inhalation. Much of the city is without power.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

"Deadly fire rips through parts of Chile’s Valparaiso" — France 24, April 14, 2014
"Chile fire in Valparaiso kills 12 and forces thousands to evacuate" — BBC News Online, April 13, 2014

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.