Viña del Mar, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 7th Feb, 2024) From earthquakes to tsunamis and massive fires, Chile is prone to natural disasters — but the firefighters called up to tackle them are all volunteers with day jobs, like architect Jorge Pena or insurance salesman Cristian Lobos.
Both men dashed to the scene of the world’s third-worst wildfire tragedy last weekend in the country’s coastal Valparaiso region, where 131 people have been killed and entire communities razed.
Pena, a 33-year-old architect, drove 12 hours from his home in southern Chile to help fight the raging inferno.
He said that in his 11 years as a volunteer firefighter, “what has most shocked me has been the magnitude of the destruction of this fire.”
The job has had hair-raising moments, such as when he found himself surrounded by flames during a 2017 “firestorm.
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“Before, I didn’t think about it when attending these emergencies, but now I think about it a little more. My son is almost a year old,” he said.
Nevertheless, “I will always continue” as a volunteer, he adds.
Pena and his colleagues are now focused on clearing debris and cooling down areas they spot with residual embers — to remove the possibility of them reigniting, and also so that bodies can be retrieved.
Without a state-funded fire service, Chile relies on some 50,000 men and women like Pena, who are financed by foreign, private and state donations.
Their organization is a kind of NGO that has its own training academy, though members do not receive any remuneration for their dangerous work.
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