The flames officially killed 137 people, affected nearly 16,000 others, and ravaged entire neighborhoods in what Chilean President Gabriel Boric called the country’s “biggest tragedy” in more than a decade. years. Friday May 24, more than three months after the events, a firefighter was arrested, suspected of being at the origin of this deadly fire which affected the town of Viña del Mar, in central Chile.
“An arrest warrant was issued today against the author of the fires that occurred in February in the Valparaiso region”, where the city of Viña del Mar is located, said the director of police, Eduardo Cerna, during a press conference organized at the end of the investigation.
The fire started on February 2 around the town of Viña del Mar, located in the tourist region of Valparaiso, a little more than 100 km west of Santiago. According to the prosecution, the fire started from small simultaneous fires which broke out near Lake Peñuelas, located near the tourist towns of Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. The flames spread quickly due to the heat and gusty winds.
“Field work, evidence collection, analysis and cross-checking of information made it possible to locate, establish behavioral patterns and geographic movement data” of the arrested firefighter, Cerna said.
“A completely isolated incident”
According to local media, this 22-year-old man joined the fire brigade, which is made up of volunteers in Chile, a year and a half ago.
“We are completely devastated by what happened, it is a completely isolated incident (…) we have taken care of Valparaiso for over 170 years and we cannot allow such things,” Vicente told the press Maggiolo, commander of the 13th Valparaiso City Fire Company.
From the start of the fire, local authorities claimed that it was arson. “All the residents of Viña del Mar knew that it was a voluntary act (…) and today we can have this degree of certainty,” declared the mayor of this city, Macarena Ripamonti.
Ignition elements found at his home
Firefighters were unable to put out the fire due to the lack of roads or because they found themselves stuck in the narrow accesses to the city. “There were about four outbreaks, equidistant from each other,” said Osvaldo Ossandón, a prosecutor specializing in fires.
Elements with which the arrested suspect started the fire were found in his house, and an investigation is underway to determine whether he was involved in other previous fires, the prosecutor added. This arrest constitutes “an act of justice (…) for those who lost their lives in the fire, for their families, for those who lost all their property, their jobs and who are still fighting today,” declared the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha.