A fire in a poor neighborhood of the coastal Chilean city of Valparaíso burnt over 150 houses, with firefighters struggling to control the blaze.

Inhabitants fled their homes in the middle of Christmas Eve festivities, some losing all their belongings and even pets.

Surveilling the damage, residents sorted through the embers of their homes to retrieve what belongings they could.

The blaze, fed by high Southern Hemisphere summer temperatures and strong winds, started in a forested area and spread to the city, firefighters said.