This footage was filmed and produced 10 January 2023.

[Note: partially no sound]

The fires affected the Pacific resort town in Chile, killing a hundred people and destroying entire neighborhoods.

The National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred) said that there are several factors that could be analyzed: topographic conditions, weather, low humidity and strong winds. As well as combat strategies, warning systems, land management actions, local planning, among others.

The effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (SAE), which consists of a mass alert sent to cell phones in order to warn about evacuations was questioned after the fires. The affected communities reported that the alarm was received late and that it did not provide them with information to go to a safe place, which caused confusion at the time of the evacuation, especially in the town of El Olivar, in the city of Vina del Mar.

Another factor that has alerted the authorities has been the complicated urban planning of the affected sectors, because they were located in a high-risk area with a high population density, weak structures and small or non-existent evacuation routes that aggravated the emergency.

Unlike a tsunami, in the event of a major fire the escape routes will depend on the behavior of the fire. Testimonies show that in Villa Independencia, where the highest number of people died, people were trapped trying to escape by car because there was only one evacuation route. There was no option to go down the slope because the fire was coming in that direction and not to move to the opposite area. The flames embraced everything. Precisely the lack of an emergency plan has in the middle of the controversy the mayor of Vina del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, who has defended himself by saying that it is Senapred who has not endorsed the proposal of the municipality.

The shortage of water to fight the fire in the affected sectors was another cause of the uncontrolled fires in Vina del Mar, according to an expert from Senapred. The taps that were there did not work properly because of the lack of pressure. elsewhere there simply was not. Orellana mentions that this is a recurring factor in sites with precarious construction "because they are territories with illegal occupation or where firefighters must climb without load because the roads do not support greater weight", they indicate in the municipality.

SHOTLIST:
1. Various parts of the fire area;
2. Various flags of Chile in the disaster zone;
3. Various consequences of the fire;
4. Various activities of volunteers.