The national secretary of Civil Defense and Protection, Wolnei Wolff, said on Monday (26) that 99.9% of the fires registered in the state of São Paulo over the weekend were caused by “human action”. According to him, at least 31 investigations have already been opened with the Federal Police (PF) to investigate possible arson in the region.
At a press conference, the secretary highlighted that the corporation will use satellite images that can help identify how the outbreaks began. “When the Federal Police believe that there is some human provocation, an investigation is opened and the process continues,” he explained. “Who will decide? [o resultado de cada inquérito] is the investigation,” he said.
Wolnei described as a “surprise” the fact that almost 50 municipalities in São Paulo recorded fire outbreaks simultaneously. The secretary also mentioned two other factors that contributed to the scenario recorded over the weekend: the lack of rain in the state until Saturday (24) and winds that reached 70 kilometers per hour.
Reduction of outbreaks
According to Wolnei, the Civil Defense of São Paulo reported on Monday morning that there are few active fires in the state. The reasons, according to him, include the high humidity provided by the rains that fell on Sunday (25) and that were enough to put out most of the fires.
“This does not mean that we will let our guard down,” the secretary emphasized. “The few remaining fires are being fought today,” he added, citing the work of helicopters, a KC-360 aircraft capable of carrying up to 12,000 liters of water per trip, and around 500 men from the Brazilian Army to create firebreaks in the region.
Emergency
According to Wolnei, 56 municipalities in São Paulo reported having been affected by the fires over the weekend. However, there is still no federal decree recognizing a state of emergency caused by the fire, since the municipality must first publish the local decree and then notify the state.
“The information has not been completed in the system. Until this is completed, we cannot make the recognition [da situação de emergência]”, he explained.
On Saturday (24), due to the intense fires, the government of São Paulo announced the creation of a crisis cabinet to manage monitoring and situation control actions.
Strangeness
During the press conference, the director of Deforestation and Burning Control at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Raoni Rajão, classified the fires recorded over the weekend in the state of São Paulo as an “anomalous situation”. “At the moment, we do not have all the information. The investigations are progressing.”
“What is strange is the sudden increase [de focos] in areas relatively distant from each other,” he said, mentioning that some affected municipalities are dozens or even hundreds of kilometers away from each other. According to Raoni, the areas affected by the fire are concentrated in sugarcane crops. “It would not make sense that, in those areas, [os focos de incêndio] were used for sugarcane management.”
“These are all elements that we are investigating. The dynamics are very different from place to place,” he highlighted. “Agricultural production loses with the fire, it does not gain with the fire,” he said, noting that there were also no records of lightning or thunder when the fires began, nor of accidents with high-voltage towers that could have started the fire.
