Smoke covers Manaus for another day; events are suspended – 10/12/2023 – Environment

For the second day in a row, dense smoke from the fires covered the landscape of Manaus this Thursday (12), reducing air quality to levels that pose a risk to health. The situation has been repeating itself for weeks, due to fires that, according to the city hall, are in the city’s metropolitan region.

Data from the Selva project, developed by researchers from the State University of Amazonas, shows that several parts of the city had terrible air quality throughout the day.

During the morning, one of the local stations recorded a concentration of fine particulate matter of 298.9 µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter). According to the scale of the National Environmental Council, the air is already terrible at 125 µg/m³.

The smoke led the city hall to suspend events, including the Boi Manaus cultural festival – which traditionally marks the anniversary of the capital of Amazonas, celebrated on October 24th. The event was supposed to take place between the 21st and 23rd, but was postponed indefinitely. Last year, the festival brought together almost 60 thousand people.

The Tururi Fair, which traditionally precedes Boi Manaus and would start this weekend, from October 13th to 23rd, was also suspended.

It had already been announced, this Wednesday (11), that the Manaus International Marathon, which was scheduled for October 15th and was also part of the city’s anniversary celebrations, was postponed until December.

In a press release, Mayor David Almeida (Avante) said that the measures aim to ensure the safety of the population.

“You can’t breathe carbon monoxide, it causes problems,” he said. “It is also necessary to avoid being exposed to smoke, close the windows of your houses, hydration is essential at this time. Unfortunately, we are going through this, as a result of climate change.”

Authorities advise residents to leave windows closed, humidify the air using containers of water and wet towels or cloths, drink water and use masks, air purifiers and fans to avoid direct contact with the smoke.

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.

According to Inpe, until 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.

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

Contacted by the report, the state government informed this Thursday (12), in a note, that reinforcements were sent to fight the fire: 64 agents, 16 vehicles and two aircraft will operate in Autazes (112 kilometers from Manaus). The previous day, the municipality recorded 108 hot spots, covering the capital in smoke.

The new staff joins another 52 employees and six vehicles who are already working in the region to fight fires.

Lima stated that the authorities will act with “the rigor established by law”. “Whoever is committing illegality will be prosecuted,” he said in the statement.

The governor also asked the federal government for help to fight the flames. On Thursday afternoon, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino (PSB), announced 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.

This week, the Federal Police arrested two men on suspicion of involvement in illegal burning in a region close to Manaus. 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.