APTOPIX Chile Wildfires - AP - 1.18.26

Authorities in Chile say that wildfires raging across central and southern areas of the country have left at least 18 people dead. The flames have scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed scores of homes. The South American country is sweltering under a heat wave. Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe on Sunday in the country’s hard-hit central Biobio region and the neighboring Ñuble region around 500 kilometers or 300 miles south of the capital Santiago. More than two dozen wildfires raced across those areas and ravaged 8,500 hectares or 21,000 acres. About 50,000 people were forced to evacuate.