Paris, 14 Feb. France will send 83 firefighters to Chile in response to the Chilean authorities’ request for help to fight the wave of fires still active in the country, which has already ravaged more than 425,000 hectares and killed 24 people.
As the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Interior indicated in a press release on Monday, “France has proposed, at the request of the Chilean government, the dispatch of a civil security detachment”.
Specifically, there are 41 firefighters specializing in casualty care and another 42 in firefighting.
“The French detachment will be integrated into the local rescue system and will mainly participate in carrying out tactical shooting, helicopter operations, the deployment of lances” and other operations, he said.
The deployment will be coordinated by the French Embassy in Chile and the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Directorate of Civil Security of the Ministry of the Interior.
Chile maintains 302 active fires in the center, 82 of them in combat, after a week and a half of uncontrolled fires that have already burned more than 425,000 hectares of forest and farmland, killing 24 and burning nearly 1,500 homes . EFE
lmpg/fp