Fires cause ash ‘snow’ in Pantanal city – 15/11/2023 – Environment

Tiny whitish flakes fall from the mist-covered sky in Miranda, a city in Mato Grosso do Sul just over 200 km from the state capital, Campo Grande. It is ashes from the fire in the surrounding area that has placed the municipality in an emergency situation since Tuesday (14).

The city and dozens of kilometers of its surroundings are encapsulated in a gray haze of smoke. Even before arriving in Miranda, still on the road that connects it to Campo Grande, the smell of burning is already present, as well as a taste of soot that comes to the mouth.

The situation is the result of dry weather in part of Brazil and the numerous fires that spread across the Pantanal region. It is unusual for the region to have so many fires in November, a month in which, generally, the rains have already flooded the plain that characterizes the biome.

According to data from the Queimadas Program, from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), between Tuesday (14) and this Wednesday (15), 111 fires were recorded in the municipality of Miranda, the second highest number in the state. Corumbá (MS) had 154 outbreaks in the same period.

Across the state, there were 323 outbreaks. Thus, small Miranda, with 25 thousand inhabitants, concentrated around 34% of the fire points in the state during the period.

In Mato Grosso, 511 fires were recorded in the Pantanal this Tuesday and Wednesday. The city of Poconé (MT) is the most affected, with 243 outbreaks.

“We can no longer talk about the fire season ending in October here in the Pantanal”, says Márcio Yule, coordinator of Prevfogo, an organization linked to Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Natural and Renewable Resources), in Mato Grosso do Sul.

The report from Sheet This Wednesday, he covered around 100 km of BR-262, which connects Miranda to Corumbá. Along the way, dozens of kilometers are close to fires — there are sections involved in smoke or still in flames.

In this region, this Wednesday there was a concentration of fires on the outskirts of the Pantanal do Rio Negro State Park. The park itself was also hit by flames in recent days.

In addition to the fire that is following or has already burned the areas adjacent to the highway, it is possible to see columns of smoke further away, areas of burned properties and small pockets of fire crackling amidst the vegetation in the distance.

At the same time, Fire Department cars come and go on the road. The mission is not always what one would expect in this situation, that is, to erase the fires that have been consuming part of the wetland.

One of the incidents on Wednesday involved a truck loaded with bags of coal. After the vehicle was licked by one of the flames that occasionally shoot onto the BR-262, the load began to catch fire.

Standing on the side of the road, driver Julio dos Santos, 43, tried to use a bamboo to remove the bags that were on fire. He also tried to stop the fire in the cargo with a fire extinguisher, without success. He even went to an area with water — and some small alligators — on the side of the road to fill a bucket.

In addition to the load itself, the burnt paint on part of the truck body, in contact with the coal bags, showed the risk to the vehicle itself.

“The cargo is insured. I don’t know if it will cover the truck, because it’s from another country,” says Santos. The truck was registered in Paraguay.

The Fire Department had to stop traffic on the road while trying to contain the fire in the cargo. A little further ahead, a plane released columns of water to try to contain outbreaks next to BR-262.

Part of the coal load left on the track shortly afterwards had burned and turned to ash.

Emergency situation

In addition to Miranda, four other cities in Mato Grosso do Sul had an emergency declared by the state government this Tuesday. They were: Corumbá, Ladário, Aquidauana and Porto Murtinho.

The declared emergency situation lasts 90 days. During this period, tenders are waived to deal with cases with the potential for loss or compromise of public services, safety of people and public or private assets.

The situation with the fires in the Pantanal also led the government of Mato Grosso to declare an emergency throughout the state, but, in this case, lasting 60 days.