A serious complaint was made by union leaders against the director of the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf), Christian Little, after supposedly ignoring and laughing at the warning they gave him about mega fire on February 2 in the Valparaíso region.
Let us remember that in the early morning of that day an accident occurred in the vicinity of Lake Peñuelas, which extended to urban sectors of Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana and Limache, claiming the lives of 123 people, destroying some 6 thousand homes.
What happened motivated the formation in the Chamber of Deputies of an Investigative Commission, a body that met this Tuesday, where union leaders of the Conaf were received, who made serious accusations against Christian Little.
The latter, amid various criticisms of the executive for his management of the emergency, such as the existence of aerial images that would not have been shown to Senapred.
Likewise, it was revealed that the Villa Botania in Quilpue, which was practically unscathed despite the passage of the fire, supposedly because Conaf resources were available, provided by directors of the organization who live in the place.
But also, the leaders affirmed that Director Little was at the command post the day of the fire. However, when warned by an official that the fire would reach Villa Alemana and Quilpué, his response would have been to laugh at the warning, according to the Chamber’s website.
“Indeed, we know that during the visit of the executive director, on February 2, when he was inside the Lago Peñuelas National Reserve and approached the command post, he ran into a partner of ours and asked for his impression,” he said. Marcelo Pérez Contreras, executive secretary of the National Union of Conaf Professionals.
“This person responds that this impression corresponds to the incident commander and not him, (but) the executive director insists on asking him about his knowledge of the territory; and finally this colleague clearly pointed out to the executive director his impression that this fire was going to reach Villa Alemana and Quilpué,” he said.
According to testimony, this would have occurred around 3:00 p.m., when the accident had not yet gotten out of control.
“Unfortunately, the executive director laughs at the response that this official gives him,” revealed Marcelo Pérez.
“The information we have is that apparently there were also other people who observed this. “It is such a sensitive issue, so delicate, that we, as union leaders, who have union immunity, can point this out with absolute frankness and transparency,” he added.
In this regard, along with describing the accusation as “brutal”, the deputy and president of the investigative commission, Tomás Lagomarsino, He questioned Christian Little’s actions.
“This warning was ignored by the national director of Conaf and, contrary to what he should do, which is to take the appropriate weight and take precautions, he laughed at what the Conaf official was asking him,” he questioned.
Review what happened in the investigative commission session:
