Subjects Shot at Firefighters Battling Fire in Rural Area of Concepción

A shooting attack against Firefighters was reported near midnight on Tuesday in a rural area of the commune of Concepción, Bío Bío region.

According to information from Radio Bío Bío, the incident allegedly took place in the Puente 3 sector, near Las Pataguas, while firefighting personnel were combating a fire.

Preliminary reports indicated that witnesses had alerted to the presence of individuals in vehicles shooting, in addition to firing shots at a Fire Department truck.

The attack against volunteers was confirmed by the city's own mayor, Héctor Muñoz, who described what happened as "extremely serious".

"What happened at Puente 3 seems to us an extremely serious event and we need, as we already said during the day, the Curfew in the rural sector," he stated to BioBioChile.

"There cannot be a shooting attack on our Firefighters, or on our police officers, or on anyone during a State of Constitutional Exception. It is a serious event in the city of Concepción," he added.

Furthermore, he emphasized: "We need more patrols from the Armed Forces (FF.AA). We have been saying it for days. We need the support of all forces, of all institutions, to be able to combat (the emergency)".

"And here we can also see that there are criminals, terrorists who are probably burning forest areas, and causing all this. We don't know the motive, but it is very regrettable and now they are attacking our Firefighters with gunfire," he stated.

However, the municipality indicated that, so far, there is no certainty about whether the alleged attackers were stealing, starting fires, or engaged in other actions.

Shooting Attack Against Firefighters in Concepción Under Investigation

The third commander of the Concepción Fire Department, Felipe Ríos, stated that the situation was reported by volunteers who were working on the ground fighting a fire.

"This information was reported to the command post and we immediately made the decision to withdraw our personnel from the area, being informed that they were unharmed," he told 24 Horas.

He also indicated that officers from the Investigative Police (PDI) and the Army went to the area to safeguard the firefighting personnel.

What happened is under "investigation by the police, who secured the area and conducted a reconnaissance without finding the perpetrators, and the firefighting personnel are not injured," highlighted the Fire Department commander.

In that sense, he communicated that no firefighter was injured following the incident. "(According to) the statements of our volunteers, the shots were fired into the air and that alerted the personnel to withdraw from the area immediately".

"In recent years we have no record of this type of incident. We as Firefighters deeply regret this type of action," concluded Ríos.

Source:BiobioChile