The fires burned more than 430,000 hectares (1,100,000 acres) and resulted in the loss of 24 lives, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in multiple regions of the country.

[7][8] René Garreaud from the University of Chile said the extremely high temperatures are driven by warm, naturally-recurring Puelche winds blowing from the east, superimposed on a warmer climate.

[11] Though South America has a long history of drought, Chile is among the most vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather events, changes in seasonal temperatures and rainfall, wildfires, and sea-level rise (flooding).

[13] In late August 2022, Christián Little, director of National Forest Corporation (CONAF), explained in the Chilean Congress that there was a major risk of wildfires, large and simultaneous, from October 2022 to January 2023.

In 1974, the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet signed a decree designed to subsidise the intensive forestry industry and the monoculture of eucalyptus - a highly inflammable species - in the centre and south of the country.

President Gabriel Boric has asked parliamentarians to urgently examine a draft law aimed at banning construction on burnt land for at least 30 years.

We are working in coordination with local and national authorities to fight the forest fires that affect the Maule, Ñuble, Biobío and La Araucanía regions.

Chile's massive pulp and paper company CMPC confirmed that over 10,000 hectares of its plantations have been affected by the fires and some of its processing plants' operations had been halted.

In Chile, paid, professional firefighters called "brigadistas" concentrate on forest fires while the rest are all volunteers, including those who fight city blazes.