Brazil sends 1,500 firefighters to fight Amazon forest fires

The government of Brazil has deployed nearly 1,500 firefighters to the Amazon as the region faces its most severe drought in decades. This has turned the vegetation which is usually moist, into kindling for the flames.

Despite an decrease in deforestation since Lula da Silva took power in January 2023, Brazil has still seen nearly 60,000 fires in the forest since the beginning of the year, the largest number since 2008, satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research has found.

The unusually early fire season has taken over the city of Porto Velho, covering it in smoke and prompting medical concerns for its 540,000 residents. “Flying rivers” of moisture above the rainforest were reportedly replaced by plumes of smoke.

There were already reports of devastating fires in another part of the great biomes of Brazil. The Pantanal wetlands were among them. A study from international scientists estimates that these have been made four times more likely and 40% more intense as a result of climate change.  

 “We have seen a worsening of climate change. We had a period of El Niño, changes in the temperature of different regions, warming of the oceans, a series of issues that are aggravating the problems,” Brazil’s environment minister, Marina Silva said.

In the past month, the government reported that over half of the fires in the north of the country had been either extinguished or brought under control. But with the usual peak of the fire season in September and October, there are fears that the situation could change.

Ten Brazilian states have been affected with federal authorities asking the governors of Pará, Amapá, Roraima, Rondônia and Acre to ban the use of fire which farmers usually use to clear land. A rancher’s union in Tucumã, Pará says that its members have halted the practice this year due to the tinder-dry conditions.