Recklessness, mismanagement of forests, high temperatures, wind and scarce human and technical resources have combined in central Chile, where at least 23 people have died, thousands of evacuees and hundreds of families who have made homeless in the worst wildfires in decades.
In the surroundings of the town of Santa Juana, near the city of Concepción, and ground zero of the tragedy, 700 kilometers from Santiago, the charred and still smoking landscape this morning framed the tired faces of volunteers and brigade members, next to the grief of those who have lost the effort of a lifetime.
"I can't speak, this is too terrible. I've lost everything, everything," one of those affected told Efe in front of a shelter.
According to the latest data, more than 45,000 hectares have already burned in the Biobio, Los Lagos, La Araucanía and Ñuble regions, an area of deep forests and large estates considered the breadbasket of Chile.
And the scene, moreover, of an ancestral conflict between indigenous peoples, landowners and large forestry companies dedicated to the intensive exploitation of ancient forests to which the state sold large tracts of territory.
One of the most serious was caused by a spark from a welder who has already been arrested by the Police.
Experts consulted by Efe point to this intensive forest exploitation, combined with an unwise repopulation -with foreign species, such as eucalyptus and pine, preferred by loggers- and poor management of the forests, which were not sufficiently cleaned up, like some of the causes of the tragedy.
The 30-30-30 formula -that is, 30 degrees of temperature, 30 kilometers per hour of wind and a humidity of less than 30% favored the rapid spread of the fire, as already happened in the same areas in 2017.
But beyond unfavorable weather conditions, for years experts have warned that the felling of the native vegetation and reforestation with radiata pine and eucalyptus, which grow faster and are fire-loving pyrophytes, have multiplied the risk factors.
"The species itself is not more combustible than others. The problem is not its presence but where it is present and in what density," Miguel Castillo, an expert in fires from the Department of Forest Management and Environment of the Faculty of Forestry, told Efe. Forest Sciences at the University of Chile.
"Certainly it is a problem, but shared with other factors such as spatial and silvicultural management," he adds.
According to Castillo, there are four factors that have triggered the tragedy: "the humidity of the vegetation, the slope, the wind and the fuel model, exceeding the response capacity."
"It is one thing to attend to fires when they start, and the other is to try to contain it when they have developed and the expansion is very violent when you have these meteorological and topographic factors," he stresses.
"One of the problems now is multi-occurrence, containing several serious fires at the same time and rapidly expanding because they exceed physical capacity. And accessibility, because there are many fires in areas that are difficult to access that require air attack. But it is work much more expensive, the hour of flight is much more expensive compared to the operational costs by land", he points out.
Among those who have died to date, there are two volunteer firefighters, who, as in the rest of the country, are not professionals, and the two crew members of a helicopter, including the pilot, a Bolivian citizen with great experience.
Two months ago, another pilot, of Spanish nationality and great experience, also lost his life during another extinction.
In this context, the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, who has interrupted his vacation due to the seriousness of the situation, has requested international help to stop a tragedy that has caused thousands of evacuees and victims and millions in losses.
"I have just talked with President Fernández to coordinate and thank the support of the Argentine Republic in fighting fires. In addition to brigade members, we will receive machinery," Boric said on his Twitter account.
"We are seeking support from different countries to face an emergency. We will not leave them alone!" added the president, who on Friday suspended his vacation in Chilean Patagonia to visit the areas affected by the fire and coordinate the emergency in Santiago.
The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, explained hours before at a press conference that help was also requested from countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Spain to deal with the most serious fires that have occurred in Chile since 2017.
