CNN
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At least 22 people have been killed in wildfires spreading in south-central Chile, according to government officials.
Interior Minister Carolina Tohá confirmed at a press conference Saturday that 22 people have died. She said 1,429 people are in shelters, 554 are injured and 16 people with severe burns are in critical condition.
Tohá said 28 of the hundreds of fires in Chile in recent days have consumed the amount of forest the country normally loses in a year.
The minister also described record high temperatures in some affected areas of Chile.
“The thermometer has reached a level that we have not seen so far,” Tohá said.
On Saturday, President Gabriel Boric Announcement via Twitter that neighboring Argentina will send firefighters and machines to fight the fires that are engulfing the south-central region of Chile, according to CNN Chile.
Boric said he spoke with his Argentine counterpart, Alberto Fernández, to “coordinate and thank Argentina in its fight against wildfires. In addition to the firefighters, we will get the machines.”
Boric added that he will seek more help to fight fires from other countries.
“We are arranging support from many countries to face the emergency. We will not leave them alone,” he wrote on Twitter.
