• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
REVEALED: Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Knew of Toxic Seepage at Kearl Mine for Years, Kept First Nation in the Dark October 3, 2023
Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution October 2, 2023
Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback October 2, 2023
Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds October 2, 2023
UAE Holds Major Oil and Gas Conference Before Hosting COP 28 Climate Summit October 2, 2023
Next
Prev

Chile Receives International Aid as Wildfires Kill 11, Burn 400,000 Hectares

February 3, 2017
Reading time: 2 minutes

Gobierno de Chile/Wikimedia Commons

Gobierno de Chile/Wikimedia Commons

 
Government of Chile/Wikimedia Commons

Chile has received an infusion of emergency financial aid, firefighters, and equipment to stem at least 58 wildfires that were burning as of January 30 and had killed 11 people, including four firefighters and the pilot of a single engine air tanker, destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, and burned more than 400,000 hectares.

Support was coming in from Spain, France, Portugal, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, and the United States, Wildfire Today reports.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

After a wildfire season that began in November and a bigger crisis over the last two weeks, President Michelle Bachelet said authorities had arrested 43 people suspected of “stoking some of the deadliest forest fires,” the Santiago Times reports. “Most of the suspects were apprehended in the hardest-hit regions of O’Higgins, Maule, and Biobio. They could face a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.”

The paper notes that “fires are common in Chile’s parched forests during the southern hemisphere’s summer. Most are caused by human activity. But this year it has been worse than usual because of a drought attributed by environmentalists to climate change.”

Although fire chiefs blame the blazes in part on monoculture plantations with too few firebreaks, ScienceBlogs points to climate change as a major contributing factor.

“Chile has had a rain deficit for well over a decade, though it has been extra dry for about five years,” writes science communicator Greg Laden. “Drought experts call it a ‘mega-drought.’ Droughts tend to have climate change links, and this one is no exception. A study from just one year ago links anthropogenic climate change to the drought.”

The Times says the international relief effort has “turned into a competition between U.S. and Russia,” with both countries sending firefighting brigades and supertanker aircraft. But meanwhile, despite a proud culture of volunteer firefighting, The Guardian reports that “those on the frontline are struggling to maintain their morale.”

“I get really frustrated because the situation is so extreme there’s often nothing we can do except watch as the flames devour some houses we can’t reach,” said City of Chillan fire brigade chief Gustavo de la Fuente Ortiz. “The plantations have appeared over the last 40 years,” but “it’s much easier to control a fire in a native forest. They’re more humid, and so a fire spreads more slowly.”



in Climate & Society, Culture, Drought & Wildfires, Jurisdictions, South & Central America

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

jasonwoodhead23/flickr
Tar Sands / Oil Sands

REVEALED: Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Knew of Toxic Seepage at Kearl Mine for Years, Kept First Nation in the Dark

October 3, 2023
147
Dawn Ellner/flickr
Carbon Levels & Measurement

Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution

October 2, 2023
62
Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia
Finance & Investment

Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback

October 2, 2023
142

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

jasonwoodhead23/flickr

REVEALED: Imperial Oil, Alberta Regulator Knew of Toxic Seepage at Kearl Mine for Years, Kept First Nation in the Dark

October 3, 2023
147
Ramon FVelasquez/Wikipedia

Shell CEO Doubles Down on Renewable Cuts Despite Internal Pushback

October 2, 2023
142
Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
359
YouTube

UAE Holds Major Oil and Gas Conference Before Hosting COP 28 Climate Summit

October 3, 2023
75
Solarimo/pixabay

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

October 2, 2023
261
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
880

Recent Posts

Dawn Ellner/flickr

Oil and Gas, Buildings Drive 2.1% Rise in Canada’s Climate Pollution

October 2, 2023
62
Northvolt plant in Sweden, Spisen/wikimedia commons

Quebec Lands $7B Battery Gigafactory Investment from Sweden’s Northvolt

October 2, 2023
62
GFDL/Wikimedia Commons

Clean Energy Funding Isn’t Just About Money, Policy Expert Warns

October 2, 2023
39
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons

Climate Change Brings Rapid Ice Loss to Antarctica, Arctic, Swiss Glaciers

October 2, 2023
58
Duffins Agriculture Preserve/North Country House Media via Greenbelt Foundation

Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab

September 28, 2023
221
DiscoverEganville/wikimedia commons

EV Rentals to Improve Transportation Access for Ontario Townships

September 28, 2023
82
Next Post

Forest fires cause national emergency in Chile

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}