AFP/ Valparaiso

The huge forest fire threatening the Chilean port of Valparaiso decreased in intensity but has yet to be fully controlled, the nation's emergency office reported on Sunday.

Flames hardly advanced overnight, after the large blaze killed one person and forced thousands of evacuations around the UNESCO World Heritage site, raising fears of a replay of a destructive 2014 fire.

Warm temperatures and strong winds fanned the flames to burn 560 hectares (1380 acres) of woodland, fields and scrub.

The blaze is blamed for the death of a 67-year-old woman who died in a hospital after suffering a heart attack.

There have also been 32 injured in the blaze which began Friday, 19 of whom were fire fighters, according to official reports.

So far only one house has been impacted by the blaze, and firefighters reported they were able to control the fire in four of its six most active areas.

The large fire apparently began in a garbage dump above the city, prompting officials to declare an emergency.

It was reminiscent of a blaze that swept the seaside city in 2014, killing 15 people and destroying 3,000 homes.

Valparaiso is a picturesque port city of 260,000 people just west of the capital Santiago and known for its colourful houses standing on high hills near the port.

The town's poorer neighbourhoods, perched on the city's dry hillsides with wood and tin roofs, are particularly vulnerable.