Chile firefighter, forest official linked to wildfires that killed 130

26/5/2024 14:30

        A volunteer firefighter and a Chilean forestry official have been formally accused by prosecutors with involvement in setting wildfires that engulfed central Chile this past February, killing over 130 people.
        
        Implicated so far is volunteer firefighter Francisco Ignacio Mondaca, along with Francisco Pinto, an official from Chile's National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), part of the Agriculture ministry that is responsible for preventing forest fires.
        
        The prosecutor's office in Valparaiso, a coastal city close to areas hardest hit by the fires, said on Saturday that both suspects were in pre-trial detention. Attorneys for the two men could not immediately be reached.
        
        Authorities say Mondaca, the firefighter, carried out the plot, while citing the CONAF official as the mastermind behind it.
        
        Prosecutors said they had access to evidence the shows Moncada and Pinto acted deliberately and that they had knowledge about the optimal weather conditions to start fires.