The federal government has called on the Federal Police (PF) to investigate the possible criminal origin of the fires that spread across the state of São Paulo this week. The information was confirmed this Sunday (25) by the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, who was at the headquarters of the National Center for the Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires (Prevfogo), in Brasília.
The minister said that the government is working on the suspicion of a criminal action similar to the “day of fire”, a reference to August 10, 2019, when an orchestrated action by criminals set fire to more than 470 rural properties. “There is a strong suspicion that it is happening again”, she said.
“Right now, it’s a real war against fire and crime,” said the minister. “This is an unusual situation. In a week, practically in two days, you start to see several municipalities burning at the same time. This is not part of our experience in fighting fires.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also visited the situation room set up two months ago at Prevfogo to monitor the situation of the fires. He assured resources and actions from the federal government to put out the flames, which he said were difficult to put out. “We just put out the fire, you turn your back and it starts up again.”
Also present at the scene were the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, the president of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), Rodrigo Agostinho, and the director-general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues. They all spent about an hour in the situation room, where it is possible to monitor fire outbreaks in different regions of the country in real time, via satellite images.
“In São Paulo, it is not normal, under any circumstances, that in two days there are several fire fronts simultaneously involving several municipalities,” Marina reiterated regarding the suspicions of criminal action. “We need to stop setting fires,” she appealed. “The fire is not state or municipal, it is a fire that harms Brazil.”
The minister believes that the situation could have been much worse if the federal government had not prepared for a possible increase in fires since the beginning of Lula’s term. She stated that “it is not true that the federal government failed.”
Marina mentioned the sending of the KC-390 aircraft from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) to assist in the aftermath of the flames, but reported that the plane cannot yet operate for safety reasons, due to the large amount of smoke.
Investigations
Alongside the minister, the director-general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, confirmed the existence of 31 investigations to investigate criminal conduct linked to forest fires in the Amazon and another 20 related to the Pantanal, in addition to two investigations opened to investigate the situation in São Paulo. “We have mobilized our 15 police stations spread throughout the interior [de SP] so that we can identify this issue involving these fires in the state.”
Rodrigues also explained that the government has tools that allow satellite images to be retraced until the origin of the hotspots is identified, which should greatly assist the investigations. The PF’s involvement in the case is justified due to the impact of the problem on areas of interest to the Union, such as the operation of airports.
This Sunday (25), the São Paulo government reported that there are 21 cities in São Paulo with active outbreaks, and others 46 cities on high alert for a possible approach of the flames.
Smoke
The smoke generated by the flames in the interior of São Paulo and other regions has been carried by favorable winds to the central regions of the country. This Sunday, for example, Brasília woke up with several neighborhoods covered in smoke. The phenomenon, facilitated by the dry weather, was also recorded in other capitalssuch as Goiânia and Belo Horizonte.
According to the federal government, a record number of firefighters have been mobilized to work in combating forest fires this year, including 1,400 in the Amazon region and 800 in the Pantanal. Navy and Army helicopters were sent to São Paulo this week to help fight the fires in the state.
The president of Ibama was at the headquarters of the National Center for the Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires (Prevfogo), a structure linked to Ibama, in Brasília, this Sunday, together with President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva. There, they monitored the situation of the fires on the monitors in the situation room.
Article expanded at 4:55 p.m.
