Chilean President Gabriel Boric has introduced a state of emergency in two southern areas.
Revealed On 18 Jan 2026
Two dozen energetic forest fires are tearing throughout southern Chile, forcing greater than 50,000 individuals to flee their houses and killing not less than 16 individuals, authorities have stated.
Safety Minister Luis Cordero instructed reporters at a press convention on Sunday that 15 deaths had been confirmed within the Biobio area, bringing the entire to 16 after the federal government beforehand reported one loss of life in Nuble.
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Biobio and Nuble – central-southern areas situated about 500km (300 mi) south of the capital, Santiago – have confronted the blazes’ worst results.
President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency in each areas earlier on Sunday, writing on X that “all sources can be found” to comprise the fires. The declaration allowed Chile’s armed forces to begin pitching in.
The vast majority of the evacuations have taken place within the cities of Penco and Lirquen, situated in Biobio, authorities stated. Collectively, the cities are residence to round 60,000 individuals.
Inside Minister Alvaro Elizalde stated unfavourable climate circumstances within the coming days – notably excessive temperatures – have been anticipated to make firefighting efforts harder.
“We face an advanced state of affairs,” he added.
The fires have torched round 85sq km (33sq mi) throughout Biobio and Nuble, prompting the mass evacuations. Not less than 250 houses have been destroyed thus far.
South-central Chile has been battered by forest fires in recent times, with simultaneous blazes in February 2024 resulting in the deaths of greater than 130 individuals.
On the time, Boric known as it the “biggest tragedy” the Latin American nation had confronted since a 2010 earthquake that killed not less than 500 individuals.
