Authorities Theorize Fires Burning in Chile could be intentionally caused. Is this a form of terrorism by arson that has been seen before in other parts of the world, only time will tell.

Firefighters continue to wrestle massive forest fires that broke out in central Chile in the start of February 2024, as officials extended curfews in cities most heavily affected by the deadly blazes.

Chile’s Forensic Medicine Service updated the confirmed death toll has already hit 112 people as the latest update.

The fires have been burning with the highest intensity around the city of Viña del Mar, where a famous botanical garden founded in 1931 was destroyed by the flames. At least 1,600 people were left without homes.

‘We will have to work rigorously to find who is responsible,’

Rodrigo Mundaca, Regional Governor

Several neighbourhoods on the eastern edge of Viña del Mar have been devoured by flames and smoke, trapping some people in their homes. Officials said 200 people have been reported missing in Viña del Mar and the surrounding area. The city of 300,000 people is a popular beach resort and also hosts a famous music festival during the southern hemisphere’s summer.

Rodrigo Mundaca, the governor of the Valparaiso region, confirmed that he believed the fires could have been intentionally caused, repeating a theory that had also been mentioned by President Gabriel Boric.

“These fires began in four points that lit up simultaneously, as authorities we will have to work rigorously to find who is responsible.”

Rodrigo Mundaca, Regional Governor

The fires around Viña del Mar began in mountainous forested areas that are hard to reach. But they have moved into densely populated neighbourhoods on the city’s periphery despite efforts by Chilean authorities to slow down the flames.

The president said unusually high temperatures, low humidity and high wind speeds were making it difficult to control the fires, which have already burned through over 8,000 hectares of forests and urban areas.

Officials are asking people in areas affected by the fires to evacuate homes as quickly as possible, while those farther from the fires are being told to stay at home in order to facilitate the movement of fire trucks and ambulances.

Curfews have been declared in Viña del Mar and the neighbouring cities of Quilpué and Villa Alemana as part of an effort to prevent looting.

The fires broke out during a week of record high temperatures in central Chile. Over the past two months, the El Niño weather pattern has caused droughts and high temperatures in western South America that have also increased the risk of forest fires.

There is a history of islamic terror attacks around the world, where fire is used as the weapon. Churches, temples, government buildings, and homes are attacked by islamic terrorists in countries often found in asia or middle east. With recent Islamic terror attacks by Hamas against Israeli citizens on Oct 7th, 2023 along with kidnapping, rape and murder, homes and bodies were burned.

Understanding Fire as a Weapon

The devastating 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, represented a game-changer in terrorism. Over three days, a city of nearly 14 million was held hostage while 166 people were murdered in multiple locations across the city, introducing a new model for terrorist attacks.

The nature of the Mumbai attack confused those providing tactical response, rescue operations, fire extinguishment and mass casualty care. The attackers employed multiple means of attack, including: improvised explosive devices, assassination, hostage barricade, building takeover, active shooter, kidnapping and fire.

Despite all of the violence, the most iconic images from that event remain the fire at Taj Mahal Hotel. The pictures of people hanging out of the windows of the hotel to escape the fire are reminiscent of 9/11.

Brian Jenkins notably stated in 1974 that “terrorist attacks are often carefully choreographed to attract the attention of the electronic media and the international press…Terrorism is theater.”

Directing the Mumbai attack from Pakistan, the mastermind asked the terrorists, “Are you setting the fire or not?”³ He understood that the fire would capture the attention of the television cameras outside the hotel and would create an image the world would watch. In this case, fire was used as a strategic weapon.

Yet it also created a condition that complicated the rescue planning and challenged the first responders to deal with not only an active shooter threat inside a hostage barricade situation, but also one where fire and smoke created a second layer of obstacles to the rescue force—one for which they were not prepared.

On September 11, 2012, the first murder of an American ambassador since 1988 took place in Benghazi, Libya. Although firearms, IEDs and military ordinance were used, it

was not bullets or explosives that killed the U.S. ambassador, but rather smoke from an arson fire. During the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, which killed four Americans,⁴ terrorists reportedly linked to Ansar al-Shari`a and al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) used fuel from jerry cans to start a fire in the main villa, where Ambassador Christopher Stevens was sheltering in the designated location with two members of his diplomatic security detail.

As the three men attempted to escape the untenable atmosphere—filled with choking, blinding smoke—the ambassador was separated from the one member of the detail who was able to escape through a window. Unfortunately, Ambassador Stevens and the other agent did not follow.

Similar to 9/11 and Mumbai, the world was left with another image of a building ablaze during a terrorist attack. Following this incident, similar arson attacks took place days after Benghazi against the UN Multinational Force in the Sinai Peninsula as well as at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia.

While successful attacks are instructive, and help authorities understand and predict terror events, it is equally important to study unrealized terrorist plots as they reveal a great deal about adversary intentions, motivations, target selection, and desired tactics.

Source: Combating Terrorism Center