Overview
- About 50,000 residents were told to move to safety, according to Interior Minister Álvaro Elizalde.
- The forestry agency reports roughly 24 active blazes with hundreds of firefighters and soldiers deployed.
- More than 250 homes have been destroyed and roughly 8,500 hectares burned, with fires reaching parts of Concepción.
- Penco’s mayor reports at least 14 deaths in the town, a figure that conflicts with earlier national counts.
- President Gabriel Boric visited the affected zone and cautioned the death toll could rise as extreme heat and wind hamper efforts.