Forest fires raging in central Chile have killed at least 46 people, President Gabriel Boric said on Feb 3, warning that the death toll is likely to keep rising.

Black smoke billowed into the sky over many parts of the Valparaiso region, home to nearly one million inhabitants in central Chile, while firefighters using helicopters and trucks struggled to quell the flames.

Areas around the coastal tourist city of Vina del Mar have been some of the hardest hit, and rescue teams were struggling to reach all the affected areas, the Chilean authorities said.

President Boric, giving an update to the nation, said 40 people were killed in the fires and another six died from burns in hospitals.

“Given the conditions of the tragedy, the number of victims is sure to increase over the next few hours,” he said.

“The situation is really very difficult.”

Chilean disaster agency Senapred said that this is the deadliest outbreak of forest fires in Chile in the past decade,

Earlier in the day, when she reported 19 dead, Interior Minister Carolina Toha said that throughout the country, there were 92 active fires, with more than 43,000ha affected.

Wildfires are not uncommon in Chile over summer months and in 2023, on the back of a record heatwave, some 27 people died and more than 400,000ha were affected.

“The area with fires today is much smaller than last year, (but) at this time, the number of hectares affected is multiplying very rapidly,” Ms Toha said.

Between Feb 2 and Feb 3, the hectares impacted by the wildfires increased from 30,000ha to 43,000ha.

Ms Toha said that the authorities’ greatest concern was that some of the active fires were developing very close to urban areas “with the very high potential to affect people, homes and facilities”. REUTERS