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The fire came from the air, burning the gases, forming a hot black cloud, as if it were the ancient city of Pompeii, in Italy.
Thus, Patricio Novoa, a botanical expert, describes what happened last Friday in the botanical garden of Viña del Mar, where, in a few hours, a family died and dozens of hectares were devastated.
“A river of cinders arrived, we had never seen this in Chile,” he says.
In the midst of the ashes and the smoky breeze that has covered the garden since the weekend, Novoa has confirmed that, in the park, which is more than 100 years old, several plantations have escaped the flames.
“I'm hopeful,” comments this researcher from the National Botanical Garden Foundation.
Their preliminary balance is that, at least, the native forest made up of some 200 species was destroyed;
but the rest, the cultivated ones (a variety of almost 1,100), have had better luck.
According to the expert, it is possible that the devastated plantations will appear again over time, something that in any case would be seen in 2025. “There is sprouting every year, so the evaluation must be carried out in the spring of next year,” points out.
Although the burned surface reaches 90%, the historic meadow is still alive and can be seen green.
“We will make every effort to rehabilitate our irrigation system, cut down the trees that fell and eliminate those that are in danger,” clarified Alejandro Peirano, director of the botanical garden, in a video that he posted on social networks to ask for financial help.
There is still no official registry of the economic losses, but the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, told EL PAÍS that the expenses could amount to around 5 million euros.
However, he estimates that the garden can be recovered by 50% during 2024, and the entire green lung and its surrounding areas in three years.
Adaptation to extreme temperatures
It is summer in the southern hemisphere, forest fire season in Chile, but climate change and the El Niño phenomenon are driving temperatures to extreme levels.
In January, the third highest temperature, at 36.7°C, was reported in Santiago in a century.
Photograph showing the lagoon of the Botanical Garden of Viña del Mar this Monday. Adriana Thomasa (EFE)
For Valenzuela, what happened in the Valparaíso region is just a warning that one must be more prepared for the environmental crisis.
In the case of the Viña del Mar botanical garden, he considers that it may be necessary to evaluate its design for one with more resilient vegetation.
Among the trees that remained standing after the fire were sequoias, Chilean and Brazilian araucarias, some palm trees, quercus, cypresses and ceibos, as well as “Hibakujumoku”, donated by Japan as part of the “Hiroshima Green Legacy” program that survived the outbreak. of the atomic bomb in 1945.
In contrast, eucalyptus and pine trees have suffered the greatest damage.
In fact, the people who witnessed the evolution of the tragedy in the botanical garden of Viña del Mar report that, at first, the flames jumped the firebreaks, spreading to the eucalyptus plantations – known as “combustible trees” for being highly flammable. – and arriving at the house of an official, Patricia Araya, called “
la Pati
”, who was with her mother, 93 years old, and two grandchildren.
The family, who did not manage to escape the fire, joins the 123 deaths due to the wave of forest fires in the Valparaíso region, the deadliest in Chile during the last decade.
Authorities have said that there is evidence that some of the outbreaks recorded in recent days were intentionally set.
In the case of what happened inside the garden, two suspects were arrested, but they were released after no evidence was found to formalize them.
In addition to the fatalities, Valenzuela indicates that the forest fires are seriously affecting agriculture, since they have destroyed entire crops that are maturing in these months, such as wheat fields and some legumes.
“We must remember that agriculture itself is part of the solution to the climate crisis,” he explains.
He also remembers that the damage to biodiversity is gigantic, listing some of the animal species that have died in recent days in Chile such as coypu, pudus, wild cats and mountain monkeys.