Chile police arrest fourth suspect in deadly wildfires

Chilean authorities announced Thursday the arrest of a fourth person suspected of causing deadly wildfires that have ravaged the south of the country.

The massive fires in recent days have killed at least 21 people and affected some 20,000 others. 

Firefighters were still battling 19 fires Thursday in the hardest-hit regions of Araucania, Nuble and Biobio.

Although no charges have been filed against the four suspects, regional prosecutor Marcela Cartagena alleged the latest person arrested was suspected of "causing what are, as of today, 20 deaths" in Biobio. 

The other fatality in the wildfires was in the neighboring Nuble region.

Earlier Thursday, a man was arrested as he was lighting a fire in a forested area of Punta de Parra, a town of about 3,000 residents surrounded by eucalyptus forests, police said.

Two other people were arrested earlier in the week: one in Biobio on Monday, who was released shortly thereafter, and the other in Araucania on Wednesday.

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"It's pure malice, just to cause harm -- there's no other explanation," Felicia Lara, a 68-year-old resident of Punta de Parra, told AFP. Her house was one of those destroyed by a wildfire that wiped out much of the town.

High temperatures amid the Southern Hemisphere summer and strong winds have fueled the spread of the wildfires. 

Wildfires have severely impacted south-central Chile in recent years, especially in its warmest and driest months of January and February.

In February 2024, several fires broke out simultaneously near the city of Vina del Mar, northwest of Santiago, resulting in 138 deaths, according to the public prosecutor's office.

Investigations later found some of those blazes had also been deliberately started.

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