Fire grew faster than government response – 09/29/2024 – Environment

The 13 bulletins released since the end of June by the Ministry of the Environment on the fire crisis show that the escalation of fires in the Pantanal, Amazon and Cerrado occurred at a speed much faster than the increase in firefighting carried out by the federal, state and municipal governments. .

According to the documents, from July until now the accumulated area burned in the Pantanal has tripled in size, reaching 2 million hectares — 13.4% of the biome.

In the Amazon, the burned area more than doubled this September — 11.7 million hectares, or 2.8% of the biome. The cerrado has already had 12.3 million hectares burned in 2024, which represents 6.2% of its total area, with an increase of almost 40% in the last 15 days alone.

The increase in brigade members and aircraft, both from the federal government, but also from the states (which share the legal obligation to combat), also grew during the period, but in an insufficient proportion to contain the crisis.

In the Pantanal, from the first fortnight of July until August (the height of the crisis in the biome), the number of federal professionals in the field — from Ibama, ICMBio, Armed Forces and National Force — grew 20%, reaching around 1,000, while the number of aircraft went from 14 to 19 in the period.

Currently, with the crisis in the biome easing, the workforce is around 800 agents, with 11 aircraft — the others have been relocated to other parts of the country.

THE Sheet questioned Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul about the number of personnel involved in the fight, but only the second state responded. He said that June ended with 70 firefighters in action, a number that has grown to 138 at this time.

In the Amazon, federal personnel increased slightly from the end of August (when the number began to be released by the Ministry of the Environment) until now: from 1,468 to 1,608, with 10 aircraft.

The state of Tocantins stated that fighting the fire had not yet started in June, but that there are now 355 firefighters mobilized. In Amazonas, during this period, the workforce grew from 333 to 706. Pará did not respond — all three are record holders for fires in the North.

The weekly moving averages of burned area in the cerrado began to rise rapidly in August and reached their peak in the first weeks of September.

The Ministry of the Environment’s bulletins began publishing data on the biome only on the 10th. According to the document, the number of federal professionals in the field more than doubled in the last 15 days, from 436 to 1,102. There are 8 aircraft in use (there were 7 in the bulletin on the 10th).

“There is a shared responsibility. Placing all the accounting on the number of federal firefighters is not honest, it is as if the entire responsibility for fires in Brazil rests with the federal government, this is not real”, says the ministry’s extraordinary secretary for Deforestation Control , André Lima.

According to him, 85% of the fires in the cerrado and 73% of the fires in the pantanal were recorded on private properties, the responsibility for which to respond primarily lies with the states and municipalities — the Union needs to take care of preservation areas and indigenous lands, mostly.

“If there is no private property with its brigades, municipalities with local brigades, firefighters, states with fire departments, also increasing the number of people available, there is no way for the federal government to solve the problem”, he says.

Lima cites the example of São Paulo. According to him, in the state there is a lower charge compared to the federal government because “these are state and private areas and there is a workforce, both private, from large companies, and from the state, of firefighters.”

The government of Amazonas says, on the other hand, that currently more than 70% of the hot spots fought by state teams are in areas of federal responsibility and complains that in April it requested support from the Union.

In Rondônia, the State Court of Auditors opened a process to investigate possible omissions by the local government in fighting the fire. The report sought out regional management for comment, but received no response.

In 2024, Brazil faces a spike in fires amid the worst drought ever recorded in the country since at least the 1950s.

Minister Marina Silva (Environment) and President Lula (PT) himself recognized that the federal government, states and municipalities were not prepared to face the situation.

In addition to the Ministry of the Environment, the Sheet He also contacted the departments of Justice, Defense, Agriculture, Regional Development and the Civil House, which coordinates the actions.

The Civil House highlighted the creation of the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Burning, on January 1, 2023, highlighting that “the powers to combat forest fires and drought are not exclusive to the Union” and that “states and municipalities also play a fundamental role.”

Regarding the federal structure, the ministry responded that Ibama and ICMBio have more than 3,000 brigade members operating this year and that in August a temporary increase was authorized in 20 states, in addition to the hiring by Ibama of another 5 aircraft.

The ministry also highlights the provisional measure that authorized R$137 million to fight fires, among other contributions.

The court said it has been working against fires since May, using 312 firefighters from the Security Force in 22 municipalities in the Legal Amazon and Pantanal.

“The ministry increased the transfers for operations to protect biomes and combat forest fires by more than 400%, compared to the entire year 2022”, said the ministry, which recorded the 52 investigations opened by the Federal Police and the performance of the Federal Highway Police on intensified patrols on the banks of federal highways.

Defense said that since the end of June, around 550 military personnel have been operating in the Pantanal, with the support of 161 vehicles, 224 vessels and nine aircraft.

Agriculture stated that it partners with federal and local authorities and representatives of rural producers and that it is monitoring the impacts of droughts on agricultural production.

Regional Development did not respond.