Wildfire in Chile: The Latest Update of Wildfire in Central and Southern Chile

Since the middle of January 2026, Chile has suffered from a massive wildfire. Forest fires are a common occurrence in this country. The fire season typically starts in October and lasts until April. However, the current wildfire in Chile was more catastrophic and spread more rapidly than the previous one.

Recently, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, has declared that the 2026 wildfire is a national catastrophe. Still, it was not the first massive fire the country ever experienced. Chile wildfire history is full of massive wildfire records.

Current Wildfire in Chile: An Overview

Chile has fought catastrophic wildfires in its national history. The latest one broke on January 16, 2026. The fire started in the Ñuble and Biobío regions. These regions are located roughly 500 km south of Santiago, Chile’s capital city.

1. Current Conditions

A few days after the fire broke out, active blazes spread to many locations. Authorities reported that there were over 120 separate blazes in south-central regions, including Bio Bío, Ñuble, and La Araucania. 

These flames burnt down forests, vineyards, farmlands, and residential areas. Authorities estimated that over 45,000 hectares of land are affected by the forest fires in Chile. This massive impact has forced the President to declare the fire a national catastrophe.

This state of catastrophe allows the government to take extraordinary measures to fight this fire. One of them is deploying the military to extinguish the wildfire and evacuate the victims. 

The duration of this state catastrophe is 90 days. Still, the president can prolong this period if needed. So far, authorities have worked hard to fight this massive wildfire.

On January 31, Chile’s firefighter teams had tried to extinguish 47 fire spots. Accordingly, these active fires have become smaller and are under the control of the firefighter teams. 

In addition, those teams were currently fighting 10 massive fires. Authorities have also arrested a man in Perquenco. This man was suspected of starting a fire in a wheat field using a liquid accelerant. Another report said that 43 people have been arrested due to this disaster.

2. How did the Chile Wildfire 2026 start?

The wildfire in Chile sparked due to a mix of factors. Experts believed that the combination of natural circumstances and human factors had ignited the wild flames. What are these causes?

• Prolonged Drought: Chile has been experiencing a decade of drought. Accordingly, vegetation in this country is awfully dry and flammable. 

• Extreme Heat: Prior to the wildfire, south-central Chile experienced an extreme heat wave. During this situation, the temperatures reached more than 38^oC. The combination of this extreme heat and dry vegetation allows fires to spark easily.

• Strong Winds: The wildfire developed into a massive fire because of strong winds. The wind oxygenated the flame. Therefore, the blaze burned faster and hotter.

• Negligence: Agricultural burning that went out of control, poorly maintained power lines, and other negligence contributed to the development of this wildfire. Thus, the fire rapidly spread to many regions.

• Industrial Plantations: Forest fires in Chile went out of control because of land use changes. Large areas of forests have turned into pine and eucalyptus plantations. Those trees are flammable, causing a small fire to develop into a massive one.

3. The Impact of the Wildfire

The Chilean government would not declare the fire a national catastrophe if it did not have a massive impact on the country. The catastrophic wildfire affected several towns in south-central Chile.

The most affected region was Lirquén, a small coastal town in Bio Bío. Almost 80% of Lirquén’s land area was covered in flames. In addition, 17 citizens of Lirquén died, and roughly 60 others were injured in this disaster.

Parts of Penco and Concepción were also badly impacted by the wildfire. In total, the death toll of this disaster was at least 21 people. Moreover, more than 50,000 residents of Chile wildfire locations were evacuated.

The fire not only damaged forests and plantations. This hazard also destroyed more than 800 houses and threatened 3,000 others. 

Due to the large-scale damage, over a thousand people were homeless. Those numbers may multiply if the containment of the wildfire takes more time than expected.

4. Containment

The Chilean government deployed nearly 3,000 firefighters to extinguish the wildfire. Unfortunately, till the end of January 2026, the firefighter teams could not fully quench the fire. In some locations, the fires were hard to control.

Consequently, the government requested foreign aid. Finally, Global SuperTank from the US loaned a Super Tanker jet. This jet is capable of dumping 20,000 gallons of water to quench the fire in Chile.

The wildfire in Chile has developed into a deadly disaster. This fire hazard not only damaged forests, but also injured and killed people. The government could actually prevent the fatalities if the country had adopted an excellent emergency warning system. Such a system can be established with wireless broadcast technology from smsbroadcaster.com.