It has been described as one of the greatest tragedies that Chile has experienced in recent decades.
With more than 120 people dead and around 15,000 homes affected, the fire that hit the Valparaíso region has the South American country shocked.
In two of the hardest hit cities, Viña del Mar and Quilpue -located about 120 kilometers from the capital Santiago-, entire towns were left in ashes.
The images are devastating. Hundreds of people lost their homes and are now trying to recover some of their belongings from the rubble.
The authorities have assured that there is proven evidence that some of the lights were turned on intentional way.
The president himself, Gabriel Boric, has called for collecting “all the information” about the origin of the fires.
“It is difficult to think that there could be such miserable and heartless people capable of causing so much death and pain”, he indicated.
“But if these people exist, we are going to look for them, we are going to find them and they will have to face not only the rejection of the entire society, but also the full weight of the law,” he added.
Although large fires are not a new phenomenon in Chile – it has already experienced critical years in 2014, 2017 and 2023, among others – the latter has an unprecedented dimension due to the number of victims.
One of the factors that has drawn the most attention is the speed with which the fires spread.
“In just 10 minutes, the fire was with us. There was smoke, the sky turned black and everything was dark. The wind was like a hurricane. It was like being in hell,” a woman who was in one of the affected areas told the local press.
How do you explain the level of destruction left by the accidents? And why did the fire spread so quickly? Here we tell you.
1. Prolonged drought and forest plantations
Chile has suffered droughts for the last 14 years or so, which has been directly attributed by scientists to climate change.
The phenomenon mainly affects the central area of the country – where the Valparaíso region is located – due to a prolonged rainfall deficit.
Although last winter it rained more than in previous years, experts have warned that the consequences of the drought are still present.
“The rains (last year) generated vegetation that when it dried became extremely combustible,” he tells BBC Mundo. Hector Jorqueraacademic in the engineering department of the Catholic University of Chile.
The researcher states that one of the main problems is lack of humiditywhich is directly related to drought.
And as the soils are drier, the vegetation suffers from what experts call “water stress” and the plant material burns more easily.
Added to the above is that invasive species abound in both the central and southern areas of Chile, such as pine or eucalyptuswhich have been introduced for the production of cellulose and wood in the country.
These forest plantations surround several areas of Valparaíso.
“The pine and eucalyptus burn relatively quickly, and in addition to that we have other invasive shrub species that generate a very high amount of fuel,” he told BBC Mundo. Aníbal Paucharddirector of the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity of the University of Concepción.
For its part, Roberto Rondanelli, academic from the Department of Geophysics of the University of Chile, states that “the landscape is much more vulnerable when it has more plantations than native forest.”
“The native forest is much more resilient to fire. Furthermore, the biomass density of forest plantations is greater than the native forest to maximize production, and that can be a problem,” he adds.
2. Strong winds and high temperatures
Weather conditions also played an important role in the level of destruction of the incident.
When the fire started, on Friday, February 2, the temperature in the Valparaíso region exceeded 33 degrees.
This temperature was described by meteorologists as “extremely high and unusual” for that coastal area.
“It was a particular heat wave. We spent a week with record temperatures, in the valleys it was around 37 degrees. And those are temperatures that are never recorded in this area,” says Roberto Rondanelli.
The academic assures that these high temperatures have to do with climate change and the El Niño phenomenon which is usually associated with extreme weather events.
Wind gusts of up to 80 kilometers per hour, which was favorable for the spread of the fire. And a lower than usual humidity level.
This especially affects urban areas located in ravines which, according to experts, act as “wind accelerators,” making it more difficult to control fires.
And the abundance of hills and valleys in the Valparaíso region contributes to the winds acquiring greater speed.
“That helps you spread any fire. It increases ventilation where the flame is, adds oxygen and transports burned mass precisely in dry places due to prolonged drought,” explains Héctor Jorquera.
3. Population density
Another factor that explains the extent of the destruction of this fire has to do with the infrastructure of the affected areas.
According to experts, some of the burned areas are densely populated, without proper planning patterns, connectivity or retaining walls.
Many of the homes in these areas are precarious and are made with light materials or wood, which are easily flammable.
“There were many firebreaks that were occupied by houses. Those houses were made of light material that It is highly combustible unlike concrete.”he explains to BBC Mundo Miguel Castillo, academic at the Faculty of Forestry Sciences of the University of Chile.
“These houses are normally built on a slope and the fire tends to enter through the bottom. That is why it is so necessary that the regulatory plans consider that they are areas where the rise of flames up the hills is not promoted,” he adds.
Héctor Jorquera has a similar view.
“The uneven terrain helped a lot to spread the fire because they produce a ‘chimney effect’ due to air circulation.”
“Something starts to burn and since it is close to the slope, it catches fire,” he adds.
Added to this is the existence of “micro-garbage dumps” in some areas that catch fire incredibly quickly.
Thus, experts warn that, given the increasingly common fires in the South American country, urgent changes need to be made.
“There are tremendous faults, constructions in places where they obviously should not be, such as ravines. There are no escape routes,” says Roberto Rondanelli.
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