PF arrests 2 red-handed for fires in AM – 10/12/2023 – Environment

The PF (Federal Police) arrested two men in the act on suspicion of involvement in illegal burning in a region close to Manaus this Wednesday (11). They were found with chainsaws, gallons of gasoline and matches, according to police.

According to the agency, the prisoners said they had committed the same crime previously. The men were taken to the PF Regional Superintendence and then to a custody hearing.

The capital of Amazonas has been suffering from the fires, which, this Thursday (12), for the second consecutive day left the city’s landscape gray. The smoke affected the air quality, which reached levels that were very harmful to health.

Data from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) points to a record number of hot spots in Amazonas. There were 2,684 registrations in the first ten days of October in the state alone, compared to 1,503 in the entire month last year.

The increase in forest fires led the government of Wilson Lima (União Brasil) to declare, in September, an environmental emergency.

The Federal Police are investigating the causes of the fires in the metropolitan region of Manaus. According to a statement from the PF, the area has been monitored using geoprocessing systems.

This Thursday afternoon, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, said on a social network that more teams from the National Force will work to combat the fires in Amazonas.

“In compliance with President Lula’s guidance, and in view of the request of the governor and the Amazonian federal bench, we will mobilize more National Force personnel to reinforce our teams that are already there fighting forest fires,” he wrote.

According to Inpe, until this Tuesday (10), the municipalities of Lábrea (344 hot spots), Boca do Acre (263) and Novo Aripuanã (245), in the interior of the state, led the number of fires.