The death toll from dozens of forest fires that have devastated large areas in central and southern Chile has risen to nine, authorities said Thursday, as thousands of firefighters struggled to control the blazes, dpa reported. Emergency workers in the south-central Maule region Thursday recovered the bodies of two police officers killed fighting the fires, national forestry agency CONAF said, the latest victims of the worst wildfires in Chile's history. Seven other people have died including four firefighters. President Michelle Bachelet said early Thursday 99 fires in five regions were burning, with 64 not yet controlled. The burn area grew dramatically overnight from 1,900 square kilometres to 2,400 square kilometres. In Santa Olga, a town of 5,000 in Maule, 1,000 homes were destroyed, Mayor Carlos Valenzuela told local media. The town of Hualane, 70 kilometres to the north, was also under threat. More than 4,000 firefighters were working to douse the flames, Bachelet said, including firefighters and experts from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Spain. Through a charitable foundation, the Chilean-born wife of an heir to the US supermarket chain Wal-mart has hired the world's largest firefighting plane, a "supertanker" with a capacity of 72 tons of water, which was being used near Hualane. Russia will also send a firefighting Ilyushin II-76 tanker and helicopters. Fires over a wide area of the country began amid hot, dry weather weeks ago. At least some of the fires may have been deliberately set, CONAF told local media, and after a meeting with intelligence chiefs Thursday Bachelet said they were investigating possible causes. More than 2,700 square kilometers have already burned.
