Chile Firefighters Recover Bodies from Rubble as Blaze Death Toll Reaches 122

By Alexander Villegas and Jorge Vega

VINA DEL MAR, Chile – The death toll from devastating wildfires in central Chile reached 122 on Monday. Emergency teams, using helicopters to drop large quantities of water, continued their efforts to control the fires while also searching for victims buried in the debris three days after the flames erupted.

As this natural disaster becomes the worst the country has faced in years, the number of casualties is expected to rise. Residents, firefighters, and military personnel are working tirelessly to clear debris from the coastal cities of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar, where fire engulfed homes in mere minutes.

"It’s like a war zone, as if a bomb went off," recounted Jacqueline Atenas, 63. She fled her home in Villa Independencia on Friday and returned to find her neighborhood in ruins, clutching a small pink backpack containing her only belongings.

"It burned like someone was throwing gasoline on the houses. I don’t understand what happened… There was a lot of wind and massive fireballs flying by," she said.

Luis Parra, another resident, described his narrow escape with his wife and grandchildren. Just as sparks began to reach their home, the power went out, and their gate became inoperable, blocking their car’s exit. They managed to escape in a friend’s vehicle, but tragically, his sister and blind father did not survive. Their bodies were located just a block away from their home. "We never thought this could happen," Parra lamented.

The ferocity of the flames in Villa Independencia, a working-class neighborhood of Vina del Mar, shocked many locals. Ingrid Crespo, 59, recalled the moment she spotted the fire far off and then watched it jump from hill to hill. "The sparks would leap, and the wind was blowing like it was a hurricane," she explained. Despite her efforts to protect her home by pouring water on the roof, it was too late. She fled with only the clothes on her back, mourning the loss of her cat and dog in the process.

"When my son came on Sunday, there were dead bodies," Crespo reported. "There are so many dead."

Chile entered a formal two-day mourning period on Monday. Authorities have reported that hundreds of individuals remain missing and that approximately 14,000 homes have been affected.

Drone footage captured the destruction across Vina del Mar, revealing entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes, with survivors sifting through the charred remains of their homes and rusted cars littering the streets.

Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve reported that there were still 165 active fires as of Sunday, an increase from 154 the previous day. A curfew has been enacted in the most severely impacted areas, and the military has been deployed to assist firefighters in containing the blazes. Monsalve noted that slightly cooler temperatures and cloud cover might aid in extinguishing the fires in the days to come, stating, "We’re going to keep having high temperatures, but not extreme ones."

Chile’s investigative police are looking into the possibility of arson in areas where fires may have been intentionally ignited. The region has been enduring a severe heat wave, which experts warn is becoming increasingly common during the southern hemisphere’s summer months due to climate change. Furthermore, the El Niño weather phenomenon, which causes warming in the Pacific Ocean, has exacerbated the extreme weather conditions faced by the country.

Jesica Barrios, who lost her home in Vina del Mar, described the harrowing speed at which the fire struck. "The fire reached the botanical park and then, in ten minutes, it was already on us," she said. "There was smoke, the sky turned black, everything was dark. The wind felt like a hurricane. It was like being in hell."