Data from the Queimadas Program, from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), already places 2024 as one of the years with the highest number of fires in the last decade. September has already recorded more than 80 thousand outbreaks, around 30% above the historical average, recorded since 1998 by Inpe.
Even if the number of outbreaks does not exceed historical averages in the last three months of the year, 2024 will have the highest number of outbreaks since 2010, when Brazil had 319,383 records.
The data indicates that this average can be surpassed, as the month of September saw an increase of 311%, going from 18 thousand outbreaks in 2023 to 75 thousand in 2024.
Midwest pulls highs
The Inpe survey indicates a consistent increase in outbreaks in all regions of the country, in relation to 2023, with emphasis on the Central-West, which had three units with the most increases this year: Mato Grosso do Sul, with 601% and 11,990 outbreaks in 2024; the Federal District, with 269%, although with only 318 outbreaks; and Mato Grosso, 217%, with 45 thousand outbreaks, becoming the state with the highest number in the country this year, surpassing Pará.
The numbers in Mato Grosso are strongest in September, when it has so far been responsible for 23.8% of the country’s outbreaks or 19,439 records. Pará also had an excess of fires in the month: 17,297 fires, or 21.2% of all records.
Completing the ranking of the biggest increases are two states in the Southeast, with less representative total numbers of fires, but with a large increase: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The increase for São Paulo residents was 428% in September, with 7855 active outbreaks. In Rio, it was 184%, or 1074 outbreaks.
In São Paulo, most of the outbreaks were concentrated in September, when the state registered 2,445 active outbreaks, 3% of the occurrences throughout the national territory. In the last 48 hours, the state registered 65 active outbreaks, according to Inpe.
The state Civil Defense reported that four municipalities registered outbreaks this Sunday (29), including Luiz Antônio, in the Ribeirão Preto region, where the fight is concentrated at the Jataí Ecological Station. Only 133 agents work there, including civil defense, firefighters, brigade members and volunteers. There are 42 vehicles, including water trucks, tractors and 4×4 trucks. Plants in the region joined the task force by sending firefighters and support vehicles. Six aircraft, four planes and two helicopters, were also mobilized on this front.
Since measurements began, the country has had more than 300,000 outbreaks in just six years: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010. This year, 2024, is on track to return to that mark. With its 208 thousand registered outbreaks, it is only behind the totals of 2020, with 222,797 outbreaks, and 2015, with 216,778, considering only the last ten years.
This content was originally published in Queimadas are 30% higher than the average in September in Brazil, says Inpe on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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