Forest Fire (39060 ha) in Chile 02 Feb 2023

Event summary

Forest fire can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the burned area and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID WF 1011800
Glide number: WF-2023-000016-CHL
Countries: Chile
Start Date - Last detection*: 02 Feb 2023 - 10 Feb 2023
Duration (days): 8
People affected: 3562 in the burned area
Burned area: 39060 ha
More Info: Global Wildfire Information System

*(Last detection of the thermal anomaly of the fire)

GDACS Score

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Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
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Chile - Wildfires, update (ECHO 08 Feb 2023)Wed, 08 Feb 2023 12:02

  • Several wildfires continue to burn across central and southern Chile, causing casaulties and widespread damage. The worst affected regions are Bío Bío, Araucanía, Ñuble, Maule, Los Ríos, Los Lagos, Aysén, O’Higgins, Valparaíso, and Santiago Metropolitan.
  • As of 7 February, according to the National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Attention (SENAPRED), there were 17 active wildfires across the aforementioned regions. The total affected area since the beginning of the events is approximately 294,000 ha.
  • SENAPRED reports, as of the same date, 24 fatalities in Bío Bío,  Araucaníaand and Ñuble and also reports nearly 900 evacuated people, 1,145 destroyed houses and a total of more than 5,500 affected people across these three regions and Maule. A red alert for wildfire activity is still in effect over Bío Bío, Araucanía, Ñuble, Maule, Los Ríos and Los Lagos.
  • Over the next 24 hours, according to the JRC Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), the fire danger forecast is from high to extreme over central Chile and from moderate to high over central-southern Chile. 
  • On 5 February, Chile requested assistance from the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), for airplanes, helicopters, ground fire-fighting units, and fire behaviour analysts' teams. So far three countries offered assistance through the UCPM. 
Forest fire in Chile - EC/ECHO daily mapThu, 09 Feb 2023 15:55

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

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Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (28), DesInventar (1), WMO (1), INFORM (2), JRC (1), (1),