Chile fire toll climbs to four

Four people have died in a fire raging in Chile, whose President Michelle Bachelet has declared a disaster area as the conflagration threatens the port city of Valparaiso, authorities say.

"We have four people dead -- three men and a woman," Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo told Radio Cooperativa on Sunday, giving a provisional death toll from the fire, which is being battled by hundreds of firefighters and has forced the evacuation of thousands of inhabitants.