Alejandro Artigas, Honorary Director of the Santiago Fire Department, at the Fire Department Museum, Santiago.Cristian Soto Quiroz
When Chilean Fire Brigade Commander Fernando Cuevas called Lieutenant Alejandro Artigas of Santiago’s First Company at 6 a.m. on September 11, 1973, to order him that the night watch team remain in the barracks until further notice, Artigas, 24, called a law student at the University of Chile told him that he had a test that day. That some should go to class and others to work. “The order is clear. “Nobody retires,” Cuevas replied. Unaware of the reason for the mandate, the lieutenant complied and relayed the message to the twelve men responsible.
Artigas, now 74, reiterated that there was apparently no plan for what happened that day. “We had no different information than the rest of the people. And that’s why we never go to the scene of a bomb attack on La Moneda,” explains the facility’s honorary director in a room at the Santiago Fire Department headquarters.
Before recounting how he became the first firefighter to enter the government palace after the military bombing and why he was one of the few members of the institution to see President Salvador Allende, he notes that the group is voluntary and made up of civilian, disciplined where there is no obligation off duty. “We work with the authorities, regardless of their sign. And in the case of 9/11, that was clearly demonstrated. In all companies there were people from the left, from the center and from the right, but on the street, not within the troops. On that day, everyone kept strict respect,” emphasizes Artigas, who over the years has been elected captain, commander and superintendent of the institution where he has spent more than half a century.
Alejandro Artigas, Honorary Director of the Santiago Fire Department, in the meeting room of the Santiago Fire Department Headquarters. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Blinded by the information, the first company firefighters turned on the radio. They turned themselves on to the government and the opposition in search of clues. As early as 8 a.m. everyone was aware of a much more powerful military movement than the attempted coup of June 29, the tank attack. Hearing that the military was threatening to bomb the government palace if Allende did not relinquish power, Artigas gathered the volunteers he was mentoring in the engine rooms.
Aware that there was a mix of political persuasions, the lieutenant urged those with personal concerns to apply to leave the barracks. “But as soon as the alarm goes off and we have to go out, nobody gives in,” he warned. None of the volunteers, all singles between the ages of 18 and 28, apologized. “We were all scared to death, but we said, ‘There’s no way they can bomb it, it’s a threat.’ “We couldn’t have imagined war planes bombing something and with what calculation,” says Artigas, whose company was four blocks from La Moneda.
At around 10:30 a.m. Allende delivered his historic and final speech and shortly thereafter, around noon, the bombardment began. From a small window in the barracks, the volunteers of the first company saw a flash and seconds later heard the roar. “So we said: It’s a fact, there’s a war, the shots could be heard everywhere.” The firefighter remembers the integrity of his colleagues, but also the concern, not only for them but also for their families , their jobs and their political positions. “No one knew where this would lead. Whether it was going to take a month or 17 years, it took. We had no idea who Mr. Pino was… how much? He had been appointed supreme commander, but we hardly knew who he was,” he adds.
They watched the flames consume the palace and listened to the sound of machine guns. Did you feel powerless because you couldn’t go outside? “We felt like we didn’t do what we needed to do. “We later learned that the Santiago military garrison agreed with the commander that firefighters would go out to put out the fires as soon as the situation was under control so that we didn’t become cannon fodder,” said Artigas, who had been on duty for seven years years back then.
At 2:55 p.m., the factory gave the order to leave. The fire department of Santiago dealt with the fire in La Moneda, the building of the Socialist Party and the house of President Allende on Tomás Moro Street, among others. About nine companies visited the Government Palace. Within a minute, the Artigas team entered the door of Morandé 80, which later remained closed for decades. “It was total chaos. Some gave one order, some gave another.” Lieutenant Artigas, who entered first to formulate a plan of action, saw that the fire was “absolutely complete” on the second floor and the north zone was virtually roofless. Smoke could not collect through the opening to the sky, but despite the hour, the darkness of the sky made visibility difficult.
After an hour’s work, the captain of the first company arrived to take the lead. The first hours consisted of putting out the fierce fire with many shots in various buildings in the area, says Artigas. Amid the stress, firefighters and military in the corridors spread the word that Allende was dead. When the lieutenant was on the second floor, they asked the fire department to light up Independence Hall, where the president took his own life.
Artigas’ company did not have the firelights, so a volunteer from another company supplied them. “The boy was tremendously affected at the door of the hall. I offered him help. It’s these things that you don’t know why they do them, that didn’t suit me, it was almost not in the record,” he emphasizes. He took the focus and entered.
They needed the light because they asked a journalist to film the scene. There was General Javier Palacios giving the orders, a fire chief and several soldiers. “I couldn’t say who it was because the uniforms didn’t have a graduation that day. You looked and didn’t know if it was a corporal or a colonel. They wore colored bracelets,” Artigas recalls. “It was a horrible scene. A grave silence”. He says he was found dead on a sofa, dressed in a turtleneck and slacks. He saw the gun between his legs and his glasses on the floor. The firefighter had the three court testimonies he made before the democratic justice system corrected so that whenever Allende was named, “President Allende” was named. “Because I’m a fireman. Neither here nor there. Alejandro Artigas is a different story,” he affirms.
Returning to work, the then lieutenant confesses that he wondered what he was doing there, who sent him. He heard rumors that troops were coming to defend the government and along with his colleagues thought they would be “the ham on the sandwich”.
At 10:00 p.m., Commander Cuevas ordered the 200 volunteers who were inside the building to evacuate. There were no llamas left, but they knew they had to return the next day. Weeks later, Artigas recalls, he still saw smoke rising from La Moneda.
Alejandro Artigas in the outbuildings of the Fire Museum in Santiago. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Artigas, who lived in the barracks from a young age until his marriage, is now a father of four children, a grandfather of three children and his eyes shine like those of a child with a new toy when he talks about the work of his facility, his home, speaks . The level of commitment and preparedness that was tested on the 11th – 50 years ago – continues to show itself in every major event that rocks the South American country and calls for firefighters to intervene.