Wildfires destroy large slice of Chile's breadbasket

A raging New Year's Eve wildfire in Chile - allegedly set off on purpose by a visiting Israeli national - burned through more than 25,000 hectares of forest land at a popular national park, destroying 162 homes and leaving more than 600 families out in the street, Chilean officials said Tuesday.

Firefighters were still trying to put out more than 50 small blazes late Tuesday caused by the first fire, which began in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile's southern Biobió region. The fires were still burning but most were under control, government officials said.

Some firefighters were having difficulty putting some out because of the high temperatures, the Santiago daily El Mercurio reported. Temperatures reached 35ºC in some parts of Biobió, with winds blowing 10-20 kph.

Authorities arrested 23-year-old Rotem Singer, a resident of the Israeli city of Nes Tziona, after two female backpack companions accused him of starting the fire by burning toilet paper.

Singer was released from custody but ordered to stay in the country for the next three months until the investigation is completed. His public defender María Fernanda Benavides, of the city of Puerto Natales, said that "none of the women saw him light the toilet paper that supposedly caused the fire."

"Rotem was arrested on the basis of rumors but there is no way he could have started that fire," said Mandi Guisser, another backpacker who was traveling with him the day after the blaze started.

Some Chilean lawmakers have called on Israel to pay compensation because one of its citizens was responsible for the fire. The Israeli government issued a statement expressing "solidarity" with the Chilean government and has offered to send experts to help rehabilitate the forest, including planting new seedlings.

"Israel has also experienced a similar disaster [in 2010] in the Carmel forests, and that painful memory enhances our sense of common destiny," the statement said. The Carmel forest fire claimed 44 lives, most of them Israeli prison guard cadets. More than 17,000 people had to be evacuated from the area.

Meanwhile, Chilean Housing Minister Rodrigo Pérez Mackenna said it could take up to six months before people can return to their homes in the region. Most of the homes destroyed were in the small town of Quillón.

The national government has also declared an agriculture emergency in Biobió after authorities determined that 178 hectares of fruit plants and trees were destroyed, along with 125 hectares of grains and more than 640 farm animals.