At least 23 deaths confirmed as a result of fires in Chile

The Chilean government confirmed early Sunday morning that at least 23 people have died as a result of the forest fires reported in the regions of Bío Bío, Ñuble and La Araucanía, while 554 people were injured.

The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, specified in the most recent update that "we have quite complex and painful consequences.  There are 23 people dead in a very hard balance: 16 of them are from the Biobío Region, five from La Araucanía and one in El Ñuble."

"In this fire, we are having in this week an area burned equivalent to that destroyed in a year.  In several localities of the affected areas, we have had record temperatures that have never been known," she emphasized.

The minister said that in the wildfires in Chile, more than 7,000 hectares are burning, thousands of people evacuated and hundreds of homes destroyed by fires registered in the Nuble (red alert) and Bío Bío regions of Chile.

At the same time, she pointed out that due to the 251 active fires, of which 76 broke out on Friday, the three most affected regions remain in a State of Catastrophe, and stressed that although it is not expected to be extended to others, the declaration of such status will be applied if necessary.

At the same time, Carolina Tohá emphasized the need for prevention while calling for self-care and co-responsibility. In this sense, she affirmed that "we have not yet achieved the effect we want to achieve. When we cannot manage the climate, we must manage our behavior."