Pictures of the deadly fires in Chile

The hot summer in Chile turned into a hellish sea of flames in the Valparaíso area. The catastrophic and deadly fires destroyed the entire area.

Here you see an aerial view of large parts of Viña del Mar, a tourist resort northwest of the capital Santiago de Chile.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.

According to the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, more than 14,000 houses have been affected by the fire and 3,000 houses have been partially or completely destroyed.

But the worst is the death toll: more than a hundred people have now died in the fires in Chile. Authorities warn that this number is likely to rise in the coming days. It is possible that more fatalities will be found upon return to the places destroyed by the flames.

The military helps with mass evacuations. President Gabriel Boric has traveled to the area and has declared this the worst disaster Chile has seen since the 2017 earthquake that killed 3,000, according to the Spanish newspaper El País.

There are suspicions in the Chilean media that the fires were deliberately started, because several sources of fire started at the same time. President Boric mentioned this possibility and promised an in-depth investigation.

The fire is still being fought in several places. Viña del Mar, with more than 300,000 inhabitants, is a city that has been hardest hit by the flames.

The fires came after a period of heat waves that have left Chile in a state of concern in recent times. In Santiago de Chile a record temperature of 36.7 °C was reached, the highest temperature in more than a hundred years.

The government has imposed a curfew in areas affected by the fires. Sporadic looting and chaos for survival are exacerbating the catastrophe.

The fires have devastated some neighborhoods of Viña del Mar and Quilpué, the two hardest-hit towns. People had to flee from the fire and saw their last belongings go up in flames. Cars, belongings, houses... nothing was spared.