STORY: Firefighters near Brazil’s capital city managed to reduce a massive wildfire on Wednesday (September 04) that blazed for two days and destroyed 20% of a forest nearby that has cloaked the city in gray smoke.
Officials suspect that it may have been started by arsonists.
Firefighter Godoy has been putting out the flames:
“At this moment, we are trying to protect and control the area where the farms are located. This fire started yesterday, and the wind is now pushing the fire to the farms. The big problem is that roads like the one we are on are not able to contain the embers of 50 meters and 60 meters height, which is a big problem for the fire department.”
The National Forest of Brasilia protects vital springs that provide 70% of the city’s freshwater, and is a conservation area that spans more than 21 square miles of woodland.
The fire ignited during the dry season, allowing it to spread rapidly.
Firefighters struggled to contain it before it could spread to nearby orchards where farmers grow tomatoes and flowers – despite strong winds complicating their efforts.
The forest’s size was almost halved in 2022 to give way to urban development under former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who reduced environmental controls and allowed deforestation to surge in the Amazon rainforest.
This year, a record drought and the El Nino weather pattern have heightened fire risks in the Amazon, with August seeing the most fires since 2010.