The state of São Paulo suffers a great wave of fires of suspicious origin

The city of Brasilia, in the center of Brazil, was this Monday immersed in smoke from the fires in the Amazon in the northwest, but especially from the fires burning in the state of São Paulo in the south, immersed in the worst wave of fires it has suffered in the last 25 years. At least 46 cities in São Paulo are on high alert due to their proximity to the flames. And a huge plume of smoke has formed over a large part of the country, worsening the air quality to unhealthy levels in the capital and a third of the states. Authorities suspect the fires to be deliberately set, with three people (including a brigade member engaged in extinguishing work) killed in recent days. At the moment, three alleged arsonists have been arrested. More than 3,000 brigade members and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to tackle the flames.

Between Friday and Saturday, nearly 2,000 fires were detected in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous and richest state. On Sunday, Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva drew attention to the suspicious pattern of the fires, which has raised the concern of the authorities. “It is an abnormal situation. In one week, practically in two days, we see several municipalities burning at the same time (…) It is not natural under any circumstances that in a few days there are so many fires that affect several municipalities, ”she said in reference to São Paulo, but it should be noted after that that similar situations have also occurred in the regions of the Amazon and the Pantanal (the world’s largest wetland, located on the border with Bolivia). This Monday, a brigade member died while fighting a forest fire in Mato Grosso, in the central west.

Minister Silva compared it to the Day of Fire of Jair Bolsonaro’s first year in power, when hundreds of fires were set in a coordinated action, whose spectacular images went around the world and caused a serious diplomatic crisis for the ultra president.

The minister visited the fire coordination center in Brasilia together with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There he expanded on the environment chief’s thesis, stressing that authorities “have not detected a single fire caused by lightning.”

The epicenter of the crisis is Ribeirao Preto, 300 kilometers north of São Paulo. The state’s governor, Tarcisio de Freitas, explained that the fires are caused by a combination of factors exacerbated by criminals: “We have three conditions. First of all, the combination of severe drought, low relative humidity, strong winds, so anything causes a fire to flare up and spread. And then there are the actions of criminals.” De Freitas stressed that “security forces are active to prevent these types of actions. Under the current conditions it is unacceptable to use fire to burn waste. In fact, it is prohibited.”

Federal police have launched dozens of investigations to trace the origins of this wave of fires, which is particularly intense in the interior of São Paulo state but has not reached the capital, where almost 12 million inhabitants live.

Fires and smoke from the fires are wreaking havoc in several inland municipalities. Respiratory problems are skyrocketing and health officials have strengthened medical care. Some municipalities in São Paulo have suspended classes and others have only suspended extracurricular activities. Two people died in a fire last Friday in the city of Urupes, two workers at an industrial plant who were trying to fight the fire were injured, 60 of their co-workers were injured. And another outbreak caused panic among 500 people who gathered at an electronic music party on a farm and forced it to be suspended.

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