More than 150 Chilean homes destroyed in large wildfire

A large forest fire that is covering the Chilean city of Valparaiso in smoke has destroyed at least 150 homes and is forcing evacuations, authorities said.

Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean president, has declared the port city a catastrophe zone, which puts the armed forces in charge of maintaining order and evacuating thousands of people affected by the smoke and flames.

Valparaiso Mayor Jorge Castro told Chile's National Television that while there had been no deaths or serious injuries, some people were having difficulty breathing through the smoke. Refuges have been set up for those forced to flee the fire.

Castro said on Saturday night that “Valparaiso is without electricity at the moment and this means the flame column is creating a Dante-esque panorama and is advancing in an apparently uncontrollable manner'”.

Large parts of Valparaiso are without electricity.

The National Office of Emergency also decreed a red alert for the La Polvora area, where around 150 hectares of grassland, bushes and eucalyptus have been burned.

The battle to contain the blaze has been hampered by strong Pacific coast winds that have pushed the fire deeper into the city's neighbourhoods.

"The weather is complicating the situation," emergency official Guillermo de la Mazza told reporters. "The wind is not doing us any favours. The evacuation is our top priority, along with controlling the fire itself."

It is not known how the fire started.