Chan Chan was a dense forest that existed between Osorno and La Unión in Southern Chile. The forest was intionally put on fire in the summer of 1851 by order of Chilean colonization agent Vicente Pérez Rosales. Pichi Juan, a native Huilliche, was tasked with setting the forest afire. Pichi Juan did so by starting fires at multiple locations. According to Pérez Rosales Pichi Juan barely escaped death by hiding inside the trunk of a Nothofagus dombeyi.