Widespread Fires Sweep Brazilian Cities and Forests

Overview

• Multiple vegetation and structural fires surged over the weekend into Tuesday, Sept. 15, producing roughly 99 incidents recorded in Amazonas and numerous separate outbreaks in states including São Paulo, Piauí, Bahia and Pará.
• A building fire in Campinas on Tuesday left a 3-year-old boy dead, two children burned and resulted in the arrest of the mothers for leaving the children alone while authorities investigate the blaze and the tower’s unsafe, irregular conditions.
• In the Amazonas region fires hit vegetation, a transport-company warehouse and a landfill in Maués, creating heavy smoke that spread over neighborhoods and sickened or threatened residents and animals.
• Fire crews reported extreme strain from high call volumes, simultaneous incidents and hard-to-reach terrain, and authorities said some hilly areas in Bahia may require aerial support to contain flames.
• Municipal governments have reinforced bans on open burning, opened criminal and technical investigations into causes and warned that smoke from landfills and dry vegetation poses a short-term respiratory risk to children, the elderly and people with lung conditions.