STORY: Firefighters near Brazil’s capital managed on Wednesday (September 4) to put down a massive wildfire that raged for two days and destroyed 20% of a nearby forest that enveloped the city in gray smoke.
Authorities suspect the fire may have been started by arsonists.
Firefighter Godoy put out the flames:
“Right now we are trying to protect and control the area where the farms are. This fire started yesterday and the wind is now pushing the fire towards the farms. The big problem is that roads like the one we are on are not able to contain the embers that are 50 and 60 metres high, which is a big problem for the firefighters.”
The Brasilia National Forest protects vital springs that provide 70% of the city’s fresh water and is a conservation area that spans more than 21 square miles of forest.
The fire broke out during the dry season, allowing it to spread quickly.
Firefighters battled to contain it before it spread to nearby orchards where farmers grow tomatoes and flowers – despite high winds complicating their efforts.
The size of the forest was nearly halved by 2022 to make way for urban development under former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who rolled back environmental controls and allowed deforestation to intensify in the Amazon rainforest.
This year, a record drought and the El Niño climate phenomenon have increased the risk of fires in the Amazon, with August seeing the highest number of fires since 2010.
