Both men dashed to the scene of the world's third-worst wildfire tragedy last weekend in the country's coastal Valparaiso region, where 131 people have been killed and entire communities razed.
Pena, a 33-year-old architect, drove 12 hours from his home in southern Chile to help fight the raging inferno.
He said that in his 11 years as a volunteer firefighter, "what has most shocked me has been the magnitude of the destruction of this fire."
The job has had hair-raising moments, such as when he found himself surrounded by flames during a 2017 "firestorm."
"Before, I didn't think about it when attending these emergencies, but now I think about it a little more. My son is almost a year old," he said.
Nevertheless, "I will always continue" as a volunteer, he adds.
Pena and his colleagues are now focused on clearing debris and cooling down areas they spot with residual embers -- to remove the possibility of them reigniting, and also so that bodies can be retrieved.
Without a state-funded fire service, Chile relies on some 50,000 men and women like Pena, who are financed by foreign, private and state donations.
Their organization is a kind of NGO that has its own training academy, though members do not receive any remuneration for their dangerous work.
- 'Until you die' -
Lobos, a 43-year-old father of three, normally sells health insurance policies in Vina del Mar -- which has now become the worst-hit area in the fires.
He hung up his tie to help extinguish the flames as they consumed densely populated neighborhoods, and is now leading a group looking for human remains in the charred skeletons of burned-out houses.
"We have recovered victims in varying states... bodies completely charred, others slightly burned," he said.
Lobos has been a volunteer for 23 years.
"When you take the decision, you do the courses, and generally stick with it until you die."
Since the fires surged on Friday -- in the country's worst tragedy since a 2010 earthquake and tsunami -- he has slept little and only spoken to his children via video call.
He lives near the suburb of Villa Independencia, where 19 people died, and says he saw everything -- including "how the fire advanced, how houses, lives, animals and cars were affected."
Lobos said the inferno was the "most chaotic and violent" of the emergencies has assisted with.
"Our own firefighters lost homes or cars," although luckily none had lost their lives or loved ones, he said.
He added he is proud of the fact that in Chile, volunteer firefighters can count on the "understanding" of their employers and families.
He plans to keep going as a volunteer "until I die, or my body no longer allows me to contribute."
Chile wildfire death toll rises to 131
Vina Del Mar, Chile (AFP) Feb 6, 2024 -
The death toll from a weekend inferno that razed hilltop neighborhoods in a coastal region of Chile rose to 131 on Tuesday, as forensic teams carried out the painstaking process of identifying the deceased.
Five days after wildfires tore through the crowded communities, fueled by winds and a brutal heatwave, firefighters are still searching for victims.
Volunteers have been helping clear streets left strewn with charred cars, debris and ash after the world's third-deadliest wildfire this century, which left some 20,000 people homeless.
Most of the fatalities have been in Vina del Mar, a popular tourist spot known for its beaches and botanical garden -- which was razed.
The state forensic agency reported eight more deaths after the previous tally, and said only 35 of the victims have been identified since the fire devastated the region 120 kilometers (74 miles) north of the capital Santiago.
"Medical teams have carried out 82 autopsies," the forensic office said in a statement.
The slow process left many desperate for news of their missing family members, while others just wanted closure.
"We need them to come and remove the bodies of our relatives, that's all we ask," said Claudia Salazar, whose aunt was the nursery manager at the Botanical Garden, where she lived in a home that was devoured by fire.
The director of the medical examiner's office, Marisol Prado, said forensic workers would begin taking samples from relatives with missing loved ones "to do DNA dentification."
Currently identification is being done via biometric and fingerprint tests.
- Venezuelan migrants pitch in -
Firefighters are still fighting nine active blazes in the region, however they are now considered under control and no longer a threat to urban areas.
As offers of help poured in from abroad, Venezuelans -- who form the largest migrant community in Chile, and are often stigmatized -- rallied to offer their assistance.
Venezuelans who work for online food delivery services and have motorbikes, pasted signs reading "humanitarian aid" to their backpacks, carrying water and food to the neighborhoods where they often work.
According to a study by the private Diego Portales university, about 30,000 Venezuelans work as food delivery drivers in the country.
"Maybe we don't have money, but we do what we can, what is within our reach, bringing a lot of water, above all," said Jeraldin Rincon, a nursing student, who fled the economic crisis back home in 2017.
The fires are being driven by a summer heatwave and drought affecting the southern part of South America caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon. Scientists warn that a warming planet has increased the risk of natural disasters such as wildfires.
In the Patagonia region of Argentina, some 6,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed in a fire that began on January 25, and has been fueled by high heat and strong winds.
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