Wildfires burn near Concepcion, Chile, on January 19, 2026. JAVIER TORRES / AP
Chilean police announced on Thursday, January 22, the arrest of a third person in the country's wildfire-ravaged south who they said was deliberately trying to start a fire. The massive blazes in recent days have killed at least 21 people and affected some 20,000 others, according to the government.
Firefighters, on Thursday, were battling 19 fires still burning in the hardest-hit regions of Araucania, Nuble, and Biobio.
A man was arrested in the early hours of Thursday 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.
High temperatures amid the Southern Hemisphere summer and strong winds have fueled the spread of the flames.
