This decree facilitates the immediate transfer of resources and allows, by the Brazilian Constitution, that the intervention of the Army, the Air Force and the national agencies that are necessary in this type of situation may be requested.
In this region, dozens of volunteers and firefighters from Mato Grosso risk their lives to save animals fleeing the fire that creeps through the Pantanal, whose vegetation coverage has decreased by at least 15% this year alone.
While waiting for more resources, equipment and support from the federal government to fight forest fires, volunteers and first responders from the Fire Department and Civil Defense admit to being at a disadvantage in the face of the fire.
“The fires continue and, despite the scenario, we are the institution that must be at the forefront to try to minimize the impact of the fire. We have to take care of animals and people’s safety, ”Efe Sheila Sebalhos, lieutenant-captain of the Mato Grosso Fire Department, told the Spanish agency.
Volunteers joined the work of the firefighters, mostly tour guides, inn owners, small farmers and people who, sensitized by the emergency, traveled from states like São Paulo (southeast) or Bahia (northeast) to help with the rescue work of animals.
In addition to rescuing animals such as hedgehogs, large birds, deer, crocodiles, alligators, marsupials, buffaloes, anteaters and even jaguars (the largest cat on the American continent and which has its largest habitat in the region), volunteers also risk their lives. lives to preserve the precarious infrastructure of that area.
“We had to protect bridges and inns from fires. Even some colleagues who defended a house were surrounded by fires and were hit with minor burns, ”said Ailton Lara, owner of an inn, tour guide and one of the coordinators of a support group.
Today, the government of Mato Grosso do Sul also declared an emergency situation due to the fires in the state.
“The emergency situation will last for 90 days. This strengthens joint actions by the state and federal Civil Defenses. Work plans will guide actions to fight forest fires in all 79 municipalities, including financial issues, hiring brigade members, hiring aircraft and even funding teams from other states that will come to work, “said the governor of Mato Grosso do Sul, Reinaldo Azambuja.
The dry climate and temperatures up to 43 degrees Celsius are identified as the main responsible for the fires, but the authorities also suspect arson, with the Federal Police (PF) determining today, in Mato Grosso do Sul, an operation that investigates if part of the fire was caused by human action.
At stake is Operation Matáá, which, according to the PF, aims to “ascertain criminal responsibility for the fires in the South Pantanal region”, through 10 search and seizure warrants against suspects of setting fire in the region in order to prepare the land for agricultural crops, such as soybeans, or for cattle grazing.
“Through the analysis of satellite images and the overflight of the areas, the PF was able to identify the beginning and the daily evolution of the fire spots in the region. The environmental damage found exceeds more than 25 thousand hectares of the Pantanal biome, reaching permanent preservation areas and the limits of the Pantanal Mato-grossense National Park and the Serra do Amolar ”, the authorities said in a statement.
The advance of a fire in the indigenous land Tereza Cristina, in the state of Mato Grosso, forced, on Sunday, the removal of 45 Indians of the Boe Bororo people from the place.
According to the Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), a government-sponsored body, the withdrawal of the group was preventive, as the dense smoke from burning and the proximity of fire threatened the population. The group was moved to the Casa da Saúde Indígena (Casai) and family members’ homes, according to the G1 news portal.
This year, the fires in the Pantanal increased by more than 230% compared to 2019 and criticisms of the lack of a more energetic environmental policy by the Government of the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, did not take long to arrive.
“Contempt Government Bolsonaro the environmental agenda is chronic and has great power to destroy our ecosystem,” wrote the former presidential candidate, former senator and former environment minister Marina Silva, the social network Twitter.
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