New forest fires threaten Chile’s Pacific coast

Authorities battled a new round of dangerous wildfires along Chile’s Pacific coast on Wednesday evening, just weeks after blazes there killed more than 100 people.

Chile’s national disaster agency said Wednesday evening that several communities in the Valparaíso region were being evacuated as emergency services battled the Cerro Cordillera fire. That part of the coast is dotted with towns that rise steeply from the ocean.

Devastating wildfires swept through the region last month after breaking out in Viña del Mar, a coastal town about 80 miles (130 kilometers) by road northwest of Santiago, the capital. They destroyed entire neighborhoods, kept people fleeing in cars and destroyed thousands of homes. President Gabriel Boric called it Chile’s worst disaster since a cataclysmic earthquake in 2010 killed more than 400 people and displaced another 1.5 million.

This is a development story.