The fire broke out last night and spread across the Cordillera and Alegre hills, consuming five hectares so far and forcing the authorities to order the evacuation of all the inhabitants of the area.

Firefighters from Valparaíso and seven brigades from the National Forestry Corporation are working in the disaster area.

The red alert allows the mobilization of forces and resources necessary to fight and control the fires.

In the last few hours the Ministry of the Interior convened a meeting of the Disaster Risk Management Committee, headed by the Minister of the Interior Carolina Tohá, and including the ministers of Defense, Education, and Health, among others.

Tohá declared that it is necessary to wait for dawn to be able to assess the damage. “The approximation we have is that there should be between 15 and 40 homes affected, but we will be unable to be sure of that until we have daylight and a complete review can be done,” she said.

Valparaíso region was affected in early February by the deadliest forest fires in recent decades, resulting in 134 fatalities and more than eight thousand homes destroyed.

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