Mirtza Aguilera, right, and her daughter embrace in front of their home burned by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
Andres Garrido carries burned roofing sheets at his home after it was burned by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
Resident Andres Garrido pushes a wheelbarrow with gas cylinders burned when wildfires destroyed homes in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
A police officer clears burned roofing sheets from a home destroyed by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
A Chilean flag is covered by the Spanish message: "Punta Arenas rises" at a home destroyed by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
Residential areas burned by wildfires stretch across Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
A woman holds a cat rescued after wildfires swept through homes near Lirquen, Chile, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Firefighters in Chile are battling forest fires that started on Sunday and have killed at least 19 people and left around 1,500 homeless as they swept through thousands of acres in the center and south of the country, officials said.
Five large wildfires were still active Monday in the South American nation, with temperatures higher than usual due to a summer heat wave, said the ºÃÉ«tv Service for the Prevention of Disasters.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the central Biobio and neighboring Ñuble regions on Sunday. The emergency designation allows greater coordination with the military to rein wildfires.
Boric said on his X account on Monday morning that weather conditions are adverse, which means some of the fires could reignite.
Wildfires are common in Chile during the summer due to high temperatures and dry weather. The current outbreak of fires in central and southern Chile is one of the deadliest in recent years.
In 2024, across Chile’s central coastline killed at , becoming the nation’s deadliest natural disaster since a devastating 2010 earthquake.
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