The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, confirmed that the forest fires were reactivated with force during this morning in the Biobío and La Araucanía regions.
According to the authority, currently 256 forest fires are reported, 151 controlled and 67 in combat. He also pointed out that “it is not that we have more (fires) in combat than previous days”, but that “some of these have the possibility of advancing towards highly populated areas, that is why the focus will be in those places”.
He also declared that attention is focused on two main sources: El Cortijo and Santa Ana. “In the case of El Cortijo, both on the side of the sector and on the side of Parra, the fire was activated very strongly on the day of Yesterday, we had houses affected, we have registered three, it is very probable that these numbers will change during this day and that concentrated deployment of personnel to reach the most populated areas” assured Tohá.
“There are populations and industries that are at risk”
It should be remembered that yesterday Senapred ordered the evacuation of the Queipul sector in the Victoria commune, due to new outbreaks of fires that left some 11 homes destroyed.
The incident also left three people injured in the Teodoro Schmidt commune, including a teenager and his grandmother who were trying to escape the flames. According to Minister Tohá, the minor was left with 70% of his body burned.
For its part, in the Biobío region, several houses were reportedly destroyed in the Altos del Parral de Tomé, El Guayo de Coronel and Lebu commune sectors.
In this regard, the Minister of Housing, Carlos Montes, assured that the situation is complex. “We are taking a very big risk. There are populations and industries that are at risk, ”he pointed out.
Regarding the measures to be taken, the authority indicated that the priority is “to contain the fire at the point where it is, there is the greatest effort” adding that “Conaf, together with its technical team, is specifying the plan, specifying the conditions to do it and see what kind of reinforcements it requires, because this requires a doubled and tripled effort”.
