Huge forest fires in parts of Chile National Park

Strong winds fanned the flames in the Torres del Paine National Park, a 2400 km square (927-square-mile) paradise of mountains, glaciers, forests and lakes in southern Chile deep visited by over 100,000 people each year .After meeting with emergency officials are struggling to get a grip on the blaze, President Sebastian Pinera has announced that the park will remain closed throughout January.Some 11,000 hectares (27,200 acres) of forest and brush, almost four percent of the total park area, has already been destroyed by the fire, which has more than quadrupled in size in less than 24 hours.The Chilean government has deployed four aircraft and a helicopter in the remote mountainous area, where 300 firefighters, soldiers and rangers were engaged in a desperate effort to get the blaze under control.Aerial photographs showed a large cloud of smoke obscuring the magnificent snow-capped granite peaks, wild steppes and turquoise lakes."We are facing an extremely complex situation, an extreme scenario, mainly due to topography, strong winds and highly flammable vegetation," said Vicente Nunez, director of the Chilean National Emergency Office (ONEMI).A crucial break could come Friday night or Saturday, when 10 to 15 millimeters (0.4 to 0.6 inches) of rain were expected.The U.S. State Department warned earlier Friday U.S. citizens in an advisory forest fires in progress and urged them to avoid in the direction of the region.The fire broke out Tuesday night and advanced rapidly in dry conditions, forcing authorities to evacuate 700 people, mostly tourists from the park, which is located about 3000 kilometers (1.860 miles) south of Santiago.

Environmentalist group Accion Ecologica has criticized what he said was the government's slow response to fire, drawing an unfavorable comparison with its rapid repression students protesting education reforms."We would have liked to see a government as good to throw water on the flames consume our natural heritage as they are citizens to defend their rights," said activist Luis Mariano Rendon.2005 wildfire started by a Czech backpacker destroyed 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) of Torres del Paine National Park, which has been designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1978.Pinera has promised another 100 people will join the teams on Saturday and said his government would seek "all necessary assistance" to other countries, having already reached Argentina, Australia and the United States.Neighboring Argentina, which has its own forest right on the border of Torres del Paine, sent emergency teams to help.