Sao Paulo fires have been extinguished, says governor

São Paulo. Brazilian authorities announced Monday that there are no longer any active outbreaks of the forest fires that have scorched thousands of hectares in the state of Sao Paulo, the most populous in the country, although the alert remains in place for fear of the fire rekindling.

“We did the reconnaissance in the morning and the remaining hotspots (…) have already been extinguished. There are no active hotspots in the state of Sao Paulo,” Governor Tarcísio de Freitas told Globonews.

Since Thursday, 2,700 outbreaks have been reported in this agriculturally rich state in southeastern Brazil, putting more than 40 municipalities on alert.

Freitas added, however, that the armed forces and firefighters remain deployed “to prevent the flames, which have burned more than 20,000 hectares, from rekindling,” given the forecast that dry weather will return after two days of rain.

According to data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the state of Sao Paulo is experiencing its worst August in terms of fires since records began in 1998, with more than 3,480 identified outbreaks. That is more than double the total for last year.

Clouds of smoke were visible in several cities in other regions of Brazil, including the capital Brasilia (center-west).

More than 90 percent of the fires in Sao Paulo were caused by human action, which took authorities by “surprise,” acknowledged the national secretary of Civil Defense, Wolnei Wolff, in a press conference.

The governor said that three people were arrested “in flagrante” in connection with the fires. He also estimated the damage at more than one billion reais (USD 180 million).

Flames are also currently spreading in the Brazilian Amazon, with record fires in almost two decades, and in July, the Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland in the world known for its rich biodiversity, also faced historic outbreaks.

According to experts and authorities, the severe drought currently affecting much of Brazil, partly caused by climate change, explains why the fires are spreading rapidly.

Most of these fires are of criminal origin and are intended for agricultural purposes.