Thousands told to evacuate as deadly blaze threatens Chile city

March 14, 2015
Chile declared a state of emergency Friday and ordered the evacuation of up to 16,000 people as a raging forest fire led to at least one death and threatened the historic port city of Valparaiso.

The fire started Friday in an area of grassland and pine forest near a major thoroughfare connecting Valparaiso -- a UNESCO world heritage site once dubbed "the jewel of the Pacific" -- with several illages.

The area also suffered deadly blazes last year, when 15 people were killed.

Warm temperatures and strong winds fanned the flames and the blaze was spreading, destroying about 500 hectares (1,200 acres) of land and advancing to within just a few miles of Valparaiso.

The precautionary evacuation was carried out under the supervision of military and police in villages near the city, and evacuees were moved to shelters.

A 67-year-old woman died from a heart attack, authorities said, after the national emergency office declared a red alert in the area.

"We have taken the decision to declare a state of emergency in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso... and preventive evacuation in a range from 4,000 to 16,000 people, depending on the progress of the fire," said Mahmud Aleuy, Deputy Interior Secretary.

Valparaiso is still rebuilding after it was ravaged by fire in April last year.

Thousands of homes were destroyed in the flames, particularly in Valparaiso's poorer neighborhoods, perched precariously on the coastal city's tinder-dry hillsides, where dwellings built mostly of wood with tin roofs quickly became engulfed.

The port city of 270,000 is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital Santiago.