Police in south-central Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of starting one of the wildfires that killed 21 people and razed entire neighborhoods, the government said on Wednesday.
Chilean Minister of Public Security Luis Cordero said that the suspect used a liquid accelerant to start fires in a wheat field, with authorities seizing 5 liters of fuel from him.
He was arrested at dawn in the town of Perquenco in Araucania region, south of Biobio.
Photo: Reuters
The fires began simultaneously on Saturday in Biobio and Nuble regions, about 500km south of the capital, Santiago.
Fanned by strong winds and high temperatures, the flames quickly ripped through the coastal towns of Penco, Lirquen and Punta de Parra, leaving a blackened landscape of smoldering ruins.
Chilean Minister of the Interior Alvaro Elizalde told a news conference on Wednesday that an estimated 20,000 people faced property damage from the fires, including about 800 homes that were destroyed.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric visited Biobio on Wednesday
“We’re working with heavy machinery to clear streets and remove debris, and we continue fighting the fire,” Boric said.
“We’re still in a state of emergency,” he added.
Other fires were later reported further inland, in the Biobio town of Florida, about 40km east of the city of Concepcion, and in Araucania.
Cordero said substances used to start fires, including plastic containers containing accelerant, were found in Concepcion.
Firefighters were still battling 35 blazes on Wednesday — 22 in Biobio, five in Nuble and eight in Araucania, national forestry officials said.
A drop in temperature has helped ease the situation.
“We managed to reduce the intensity of the fire,” Carlos Zulieta, a firefighter in Florida told reporters, adding that it was now advancing “more slowly.”
Aid began trickling into affected areas on Wednesday.
Municipal workers and private companies were delivering portable toilets and generators to Lirquen, where some families were camped out in the ruins of their homes.
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