Iquique St. Antonio Church Destroyed by Return Fire

On October 11, 2024, the Chilean church of San Antonio de Padua in Iquique, formerly known as the Church of San Francisco of the Franciscan Congregation, was completely destroyed by fire. Firefighters and emergency teams were unable to save the church from the fire that engulfed the building after another fire had been extinguished the day before. No casualties were reported, but the material and emotional loss for the community is considered extremely serious.

The church was one of the oldest Catholic buildings in Chile, mostly made of wood, dating back to the 17th century, built at the time of the Spanish conquest and the first arrival of the Franciscan order in the region, and a national historic monument since 1994.

The flames developed the day before under the statue of a saint and were contained by firefighters, but then reignited twenty-four hours later, for unknown reasons, and without the rescuers who intervened, twelve teams in total, were able to prevent the fire from completely consuming the wooden building. The authorities opened an investigation and a group of investigators attempted to find evidence of the initial cause of the fire, which fortunately caused no casualties.

The Iquique Fire Department was also involved in preventing the fire from spreading to other nearby homes in the area.