VALPARAISO, Chile — Helicopters and airplanes dumped water on wildfires and the smoldering wreckage of hilltop neighborhoods around Valparaiso for a third day Monday as sailors in riot gear prepared to evacuate 700 more families who would be endangered if the winds shift again.
Already 11,000 people were homeless as wildfires propelled embers from hilltop to hilltop, destroying 2,500 homes. As smoke rose from ruins all over the picturesque coastal city, a 15th body was found.
After days without sleep, some people made their way home, only to discover complete ruins. The fires, so hot that they created their own fierce winds, consumed entire neighborhoods in some places. In others, a few houses emerged unscathed, but they remained in danger with so many embers glowing.
Chile’s forestry agency predicted Monday the fires will not be extinguished for another 20 days.
Aid was flowing from all over Chile to Valparaiso, where evacuees crowded into eight shelters. Chile’s president, Michelle Bachelet, met with her ministers to oversee the emergency response.
The fires began Saturday in a forested ravine and quickly consumed ramshackle housing on one of Valparaiso’s 42 hills.
Hot, dry winds blowing out to sea kicked up the embers, which hopped across neighborhoods on six densely populated hills, where people live in poorly constructed homes without municipal water connections, fire hydrants, or streets wide enough for emergency vehicles.
Sunday afternoon’s winds kicked up the flames again, and by Monday morning, the helicopters were still flying without pause, dumping water on hotspots.
Bachelet toured the shelters and canceled this week’s trip to Argentina and Uruguay, warning that it ‘‘could be the worst fire in the city’s history.’’
Valparaiso is an oceanside city of 250,000 people surrounded by hills that form a natural amphitheater. The compact downtown includes Chile’s congress and its second-largest port.
The city owes its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to the colorful homes built on steep slopes.
Three of the 15 victims were identified, including one man who escaped the flames Saturday but died of a heart attack on Sunday after returning to discover that the flames took nearly every possession he had.
Nine of the bodies were so badly burned that DNA tests will need to be done.