A series of wildfires broke out across central Chile’s Concepción province on January 16, killing at least 21 people and injuring over 300. The government declared a “state of catastrophe” and called in international assistance to fight the blazes. The inferno was fueled by extreme heat, abnormally dry conditions, and human changes to the landscape, driven by urban expansion and industrial forests planted by Chile's timber industry. The rapid spread of the fires, which consumed an average of nearly 25 acres per minute, led to a significant increase in firefighting efforts. As the climate crisis increases and urban populations increase, wildfires are becoming larger, burning hotter, and harder to tackle, according to experts.