A new approach to fighting wildfires, from a social and political perspective

Abstract

The firestorm that affected the south-central area of Chile at the beginning of 2017 affected an area of 450,000 hectares of vegetation, with 2,288 homes destroyed and extensive environmental damage. The extreme weather conditions that prevailed meant that these fires were defined as “sixth generation”. However, these destructive episodes are not new; in April 2014, a forest fire at the wildland-urban interface in Valparaíso destroyed 2,900 houses and caused the death of 15 people. These catastrophic events are occurring more frequently and a common aspect they share is the involvement of socio-political factors, which complicate the response to such emergencies, especially in the control stage. Background information has been compiled on socio-political factors that act directly on the management of emergencies and the possibilities of controlling large forest fires. Some references and technical recommendations on handling this type of emergency are also presented.