The Amazon had the day with the most fires for a month of August since 2017. On August 22, 3,358 hotspots were detected by the Queimadas program, from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research).
The number exceeds what became known as “fire day”, on August 10, 2019. On the occasion, rural producers agreed to burn pasture and areas in the process of deforestation for the same period.
The agreement for the “day of fire” was revealed on August 5 by journalist Adécio Piran, from the Pará website Folha do Progresso. The reporter even had to leave the city after death threats. The entire movement was combined into WhatsApp groups, one called Sertão and another called Jornal A Voz da Verdade, made up of local authorities.
The days surrounding August 10, in fact, had high records of hotspots, especially August 11, with 2,366 hotspots. So far, this was the highest value for the month of August. Despite the record, the case generated few environmental fines.
The months of August and September are usually the periods with the highest levels of fires in the Amazon, as the biome is in its dry period.
Fires in the Amazon are directly related to deforestation in the biome. In general, after clearing the forest, the vegetation is expected to dry and then a fire is set to “cleanse” the area. Deforestation has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.
In 2019, the high numbers of fires in the Amazon created an international image crisis for the Bolsonaro government, in its first year.
