Wildfires

Wildfires - Chile

Chile’s government has declared a widened state of emergency amid wildfires that have killed at least 13 people and consumed about 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres), as the South American country endures a summer heatwave across southern and central swaths of the country. Eleven people, including a firefighter, had died in the Biobío town of Santa Juana, local authorities said. Hundreds of homes had been damaged while 39 fires raged across the country. Earlier, four people were reported to have died and hundreds were evacuated on Friday when the flames reached the town of Santa Ana. Elsewhere wildfires consumed more than 750 hectares (1,853 acres) of forest, destroying houses and threatening farms and forests as the South American nation faces a summer heatwave across southern and central swathes of the country.