SANTIAGO: Wildfires burning out of control in southern Chile have killed at least 15 people and forced more than 50,000 to evacuate, the government said on Sunday.

Security Minister Luis Cordero gave the tolls for 14 blazes burning for two days now in the Nuble and Biobio regions about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Santiago.

President Gabriel Boric declared a state of emergency as nearly 4,000 firefighers battled flames fueled by gusting winds and hot weather in the southern hemisphere summer. “We face a complicated situation,” Interior Minister Alvaro Elizalde said.

The president announced the state of emergency in Nuble and Biobio in a post on the social media platform X. “All resources are available,” Boric wrote.

Among other things, the declaration means the armed forces will now get involved.

Alicia Cebrian, the director of the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response, said most of the evacuations were in the Biobio towns of Penco and Lirquen, which have a combined population of around 60,000 people.

Matias Cid, a 25-year-old student who lives in Penco, described fast-moving flames burning through the night and devouring homes.

“We had to leave with the shirts on our back. If we had stayed another 20 minutes we would have burned to death,” Cid said.

All but one of the fatalities so far were in Penco, its mayor Rodrigo Vera said. Lirquen, a small port town, was also hit hard, with many people saving themselves by rushing to the beach, said resident Alejandro Arredondo, 57.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2026