Authorities were battling a new round of dangerous wildfires along Chile’s Pacific coast late Wednesday, with several fires killing more than 100 people.
Chile’s national disaster agency said Wednesday evening that several communities in the Valparaíso region were being evacuated as emergency teams battled the Cerro Cordillera fire. This part of the coast is dotted with towns that rise steeply over the ocean.
Devastating wildfires swept the region last month after breaking out in Viña del Mar, a resort town about 80 miles by road northwest of Santiago, the capital. They ravaged entire neighborhoods, trapped people fleeing in cars and destroyed thousands of homes. President Gabriel Boric called it Chile’s worst disaster since the cataclysmic 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 400 people and displaced about 1.5 million others.
This is a developing story.