© Alberto Miranda, AFP/Getty
View of houses in flames during a fire in Valparaiso,west of Santiago, Chile, on April 12, 2014.
View of houses in flames during a fire in Valparaiso,west of Santiago, Chile, on April 12, 2014.
Firefighters were having difficulty combating the blaze because of the topography of the city, which is surrounded by dozens of steep hills where most people live.
President Michelle Bachelet has declared the city a catastrophe zone, which puts the armed forces in charge of maintaining order and evacuating thousands of people affected by the smoke and flames.
"This is the worst disaster I have seen," regional governor Ricardo Bravo said. "Now we fear that the fire will spread to the center of the city, which would increase the severity of the emergency."
Comment: Multiple wildfires in recent times across the globe:
Outbreak of multiple wildfires in central Oklahoma
Wildfires break out across Carolinas despite cool temperatures
Federal government steps in to deal with record number of wildfires in Western U.S. this winter
In January 2013 there were zero wildfires in California - In January 2014 there were over 400 wildfires
Huge wildfires across Scottish Highlands
Many Tibetan monasteries and famous sites destroyed this winter by mysterious 'wildfires'
256 wildfires suddenly break out in Victoria, Australia amid heatwave
Wildfires heat up the Arctic as climate change frazzles the north of Siberia