BRASÍLIA, SEPT 17 – Brazilian firefighters battled a fire raging in a nature reserve in the capital district of Brasilia, where an area the size of 3,000 soccer fields was destroyed yesterday.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called an emergency meeting of his cabinet as Brazil’s worst drought in seven decades sparked fires in the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, sending thick smoke over major cities including Rio de Janeiro.
The capital Brasilia was the latest to be hit, battling its worst fires of the year as residents were forced to douse homes with buckets of water to dampen their threatened homes.
Three separate fires broke out over the weekend in Brasilia National Park, officials said, destroying about 1,200 hectares by Monday as dozens of firefighters with planes and helicopters battled to contain the onslaught.
“The fire started spreading fast and at a height of about six meters and people started to evacuate,” nurse Simone Costa, 51, told AFP as he inspected the fire damage near their home in Brasilia.
“We prepared buckets of water to control the fire so that it does not move closer,” he said.
Authorities warned that conditions could worsen in extremely dry conditions after 140 days without rain in Brasilia.
The number of fires in Brazil so far this month (57,312) has exceeded the total for September 2023, according to satellite data from research institute INPE.
Several Brazilian dams recorded historically low water levels and cities such as Rio were also affected by water restrictions.
Although experts say the fires are fueled by drought and climate change, authorities say most of the fires are illegal. – AFP
