Rotem Singer was twenty-three years old. He came from Israel. In December 2011 he was in Chile, in the south of the country. The police took him. They said he started a fire in Torres del Paine National Park.
His father is Hezi Singer. He talked on the radio in Israel. He said his son was one kilometre away from the fire. His friends woke him up. The father said his son could not do this.
Rotem’s friends said he burned toilet paper. They said he did not stop the small fire.
The fire was very big. It burned about 110 square kilometres of trees. Four hundred tourists left the park. More than 560 firefighters worked on the fire.
Torres del Paine is in the south of Chile. It has big rocks, ice and lakes. The park opened in 1959. The wind there is very strong. Many tourists come from November to January.
The police took Rotem on 31 December. Then he went out of jail. The police kept his passport. He stayed in the south of Chile.
In February a court in the town of Puerto Natales made a decision. Rotem paid 10,000 dollars to the government of Chile. He also worked two years for the Jewish National Fund. The fund helped to find money for 50,000 new trees in the park. Rotem comes from Nes Tziona in Israel. After this, he continued his trip.
Today the park rangers watch people. In October 2026 two tourists from Spain smoked in the park. This is not allowed. The rangers called the police. The two tourists left the park.