In central Brazil, drought, high temperatures and strong winds have spread massive wildfires that have burned nearly 5,800 square miles in the Pantanal region since the start of August. The area is renowned for wildlife diversity.
A jaguar crouches on an area recently scorched by wildfires at the Encontro das Aguas park in the Pantanal wetlands near Pocone, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. Firefighters, troops and volunteers have been scrambling to find and rescue jaguars and other animals before they are overtaken by the flames, which have been exacerbated by the worst drought in 47 years, strong winds and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees centigrade .
Preliminary figures from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, based on satellite images, indicate that nearly 5,800 square miles have burned in the Pantanal region since the start of August — an expanse comparable to the area consumed by the historic blazes now afflicting California. It’s also well beyond the previous fire season record from 2005.
“It is an immense area that has been burned and consumed by the fire. And we still have another two, three or four weeks without rain” ahead, he said. While illegal logging, mining and faming operations have been blamed for most of the fires in the Amazon region to the north, a spokesman for Mato Grosso state’s firefighters, Lt. Col. Sheila Sebalhos,said one of the causes of this year’s Pantanal fires is the practice of burning roots to smoke wild bees from their hives to extract honey.
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