Fire in Vina del Mar | "Years of sacrifice are gone in a few minutes": the hard testimony of a family that lost everything due to the fire in Chile

"It was a matter of minutes, it swept everything away immediately," laments Marianela Miranda.

Like many of her neighbors, this 57-year-old housewife has lost her home and practically all her possessions in the raging fire that burned more than 120 hectares in Viña del Mar, some 100 kilometers northwest of Santiago de Chile.

The flames caused two deaths and affected 330 homes with a total of 948 victims, according to the new balance presented by the authorities on Tuesday.

These indicated that the fire is still active outside populated areas, but already controlled and under observation.

The fire has affected, above all, communities of low-income workers who lived in mountainous areas.

"Of those affected, approximately 30% lived in informal settlements or camps," José Ignacio Valenzuela, construction and emergency director of the Chilean NGO Techo, explained to BBC Mundo.

In one of these informal settlements, known in Chile as "takes" of land, Marianela had her house.

"My house was beautiful," he recalls, in a telephone conversation with BBC Mundo.

Marianela moved to one of these settlements, called Vistas al Mar, 17 years ago with her husband, an electrical equipment transporter, and their son, who are now 48 and 23 years old respectively.

Before, they lived rented in another place, she says, "but things got very difficult, a friend told me that there was a piece of land that no one was using and we came here."

The land, exposed to a hillside in the complicated orography of the place, became a more than worthy home over the years of work.

The main house, made of microcement, consisted of 3 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and a spacious living room decorated with ceramics, which Marianela is fond of.

In the patio he grew various fruit trees, from pear trees to lemon trees, and had built a "quincho" or barbecue shed with his family, friends and neighbors.

And not only that: "we had very beautiful views; we could see the sea and the palm trees were beautiful," he says.

He was precisely in the patio when it began to rain ash last Thursday.

And when he looked up he saw how the flames were approaching at full speed.

"I didn't have time to prepare anything. I just started screaming and my husband, who was watering, realized what was happening and told me: take your documents and let's go," she recalls.

"I have two small puppies, I took them too and we already left there. We couldn't do anything else."

He also recalls the unusual virulence of the fire from those tense moments.

 

"There was a lot, a lot of wind. It was unbelievable. When the gas tubes started to explode it looked like they were dropping bombs here."

They escaped from the fire by running, along with other neighbors, down the hillside.

Furniture, appliances, clothing and food; Marianela's family has lost everything except her car, which was parked elsewhere.

"We are left with nothing. Now one sees the bare land... there is nothing left," he laments, unable to contain his tears.

"What hurts me the most is the memory of the beautiful house it had; years of sacrifice that were gone in a few minutes. That hurts a lot."

These days she and her family are staying temporarily in her sister-in-law's apartment, a few kilometers from what was her home.

In the aftermath of the devastating fire, government agencies and independent organizations such as Techo are providing help to the victims, from the removal of rubble to the provision of food and the management of temporary accommodation.

But above all it is the neighbors who, organized in their own boards -Marianela is treasurer of her community committee-, provide mutual assistance and distribute the supplies they receive.

"We have no choice but to get up, try to support each other and be able to get ahead again," he says.

Just as the cause of the fire is unknown, it remains to be seen what will happen to the Vista al Mar community and the other irregular settlements in this area of ​​Viña del Mar.

The only ones who are clear about it are the neighbors: they want to stay and rebuild their houses from scratch.

"We already had meetings and we all agreed that nobody takes us out of here. I have been here for 17 years but many have been here for more than 20 and we all know each other," says Marianela.

In the aftermath of the devastating fire, government agencies and independent organizations such as Techo are providing help to the victims, from the removal of rubble to the provision of food and the management of temporary accommodation.