The drill was performed in the Francés Sector of the park and deployed a range of resources to ensure a timely response in the northern end of Lake Nordenskjöld.

Torres del Paine, November 4, 2025. The last major fire to ravage Torres del Paine National Park broke out in December 2011. The flames spread until March of the following year, destroying more than 17,600 hectares of the park. With the aim of making sure the teams responsible for responding to this type of emergency are prepared, the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) and Las Torres Patagonia conducted a fire drill to gauge their ability to respond to such a situation.

The exercise simulated a controlled fire to measure the response capacity of CONAF and Las Torres teams, focusing on the Francés Sector and the Italiano Trail.

The drill also took into account the activation of municipal and provincial teams from the National Committee for Disaster Risk Management (COGRID), the possible controlled evacuation of visitors, the deployment of advanced firefighting teams, and the simulation of an emergency lasting more than one day.

The simulation also made it possible to deploy equipment in hard-to-reach areas, such as the Francés Sector, which included a lake navigation trial to transport equipment and personnel.

CONAF positively evaluated the results of the exercise. Diego Pérez, support professional at CONAF Puerto Natales, stated that “coordination between units and entities went perfectly.”

Pérez also highlighted “the support of Hotel Las Torres, especially in terms of water transport and support from its teams, through efficient and effective communication with our institutions.” 

Finally, the CONAF representative emphasized the importance of this type of drill, stating that “coordination between entities is key to being able to respond in a timely and effective manner to incidents that may arise in our park.”

Following the activity, John Ojeda, Conservation, Sustainability, and Safety Manager at Las Torres Patagonia, commented, “We are aware of the park’s fragility and the ecosystem’s vulnerability to this type of emergency. Collaborating with all institutions, especially CONAF, on this kind of exercise allows us to improve our strategies, enhance our communication systems, update our techniques and protocols, and continue working together to protect this unique environment.”

The exercise was conducted by 18 CONAF personnel on the ground, in addition to personnel who operated remotely from their headquarters. They were joined by 20 people, including firefighters from Las Torres Patagonia and park rangers from Las Torres Patagonia Conservancy, who carried out different stages of detection, land and lake mobilization, monitoring, analysis, and command handover, faithfully replicating a forest fire scenario in the national park.

The exercise concluded with an on-site evaluation, with positive comments highlighting the preparedness of the response teams in Torres del Paine National Park, along with the identification of opportunities for improvement that will help to further strengthen public-private coordination.