![Chilean forest battles with a lethal fire as a heatwave gripped the country](https://timber-exchange-live.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/te_prod/uploaded-by-timber-admin/news/news_63e9c8c84a500_2815.jpg)
Chilean forest battles with a lethal fire as a heatwave gripped the country
Posted on February 13, 2023 |
Chilean firefighters are battling to hold back forest fires as hot and dry weather would continue this week, the deadliest fires in the country's recent history.
The fires consumed 270,000 hectares (667,000 acres) of land, killed 26 people so far in south-central Chile, and already made 2023 the second worst year in terms of hectares burned, since 2017's firestorm.
At present, there were 275 active fires, of which 69 were in combat; the country is in the grip of an over a decade-long period of dry weather, called a "mega drought", the longest in a thousand years.
The heat wave and strong winds caused an instantaneous spread of the flames during the Southern Hemisphere summer season.
Argentina, Spain, and Mexico helped the country in a fateful situation while new support from Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, and Venezuela is expected