Chileans recovering from 2023 fires prepare for more to come
After the inferno that consumed 365,000 hectares of forest in southern Chile in 2023, people there have not only had to meet the challenge of rebuilding their lives; they've had to prepare better for the next catastrophe, which climate change is making increasingly likely.
Transcript
00:00 It took weeks of heroic effort to contain the forest fires that ravaged southern Chile
00:04 in 2023, with firefighters on the ground and in the air risking their lives to end the
00:09 devastation.
00:10 Their task was made more difficult by intense heat and winds brought on by climate change.
00:17 We had a combination of high temperatures, more than 40 degrees, wind speeds over 70
00:22 kilometres per hour and humidity below 10 percent.
00:27 The fire was advancing at 18 kilometres per hour.
00:32 The sheer number of outbreaks meant firefighters were unable to help everyone.
00:37 There was no help, no government intervention, no fire brigade, nothing.
00:42 The area was abandoned, not because of negligence, but because the fire brigade just couldn't
00:47 cope.
00:48 There were fires everywhere.
00:50 Benjamín lost everything in the fires, but as he held a stable job, he didn't receive
00:55 any help from the state.
00:57 Only through the generosity of friends was he able to rebuild his home.
01:01 It was a similar story for many of his neighbours in Santa Juana, among them Maria de la Vega,
01:07 who had to rebuild her grocery business.
01:09 After a difficult year, does she feel prepared for the next potential emergency?
01:16 If God forbid this were to happen again, it would be better to have more time so that
01:22 we don't go through the terror of being caught in the flames.
01:26 We trust that it won't happen again.
01:32 Disaster Management Committee has since been set up with the aim of preventing the next
01:36 devastating incident.
01:37 New procedures, including fire patrols, have had a positive impact.
01:43 Over the final weekend of 2022 to 2023, there were 70 fire outbreaks with more than 4,000
01:50 hectares burned.
01:52 But since then we've had only 33 fire outbreaks with about 10 hectares burnt.
01:59 This shows that our patrols are efficient.
02:05 Funding has also increased.
02:08 From a figure of around 90 million dollars, we are now at more than 160 million dollars.
02:14 We have also increased by a third the numbers of public firefighters from 2,000 to 3,300
02:20 in addition to the 3,000 private firefighters.
02:27 Preventing fires from starting in the first place is key.
02:30 With temperatures only heading in one direction as a result of climate change, not even the
02:35 best response could cope with scenes similar to those seen one year ago.