Fires rage across Amazonian ecological sanctuary
Copyright 2001 Kyodo News Service
December 14, 2001
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Dec. 15 - Fires continue to sweep across an ecological reserve in an Amazon rain-forest region in northern Brazil, authorities said Saturday.
'The fires are the worst ever in the region and we estimate the flames have destroyed some 400 square kilometers of the reserve,' agency manager Murilo Pinheiro said. Some 100 civilian fire brigades have been fighting the flames for more than four days in two separated areas of the reserve and are being supported by army troops, according to the Environmentalist Agency.
The Reserva Biologica do Lago Piratuba is near the Atlantic Ocean, some 200 km east of Macapa, the capital of Amapa state.
The National Institute of Space Research first noticed the fires through satellite-generated images and warned local environmental authorities, according to the agency.
Because the fires are burning in a remote region in the heart of the reserve, the agency had to hire a group of mateiros, people knowledgeable of the forest, in order to clear a path for the fire brigades.
The reserve features several lakes, lagoons and igarapes, narrow rivers, but a prolonged dry season has sharply reduced rainfall levels, facilitating the spread of the flames.
Authorities estimate that it will take another six to eight days to put out the flames in the 3,570 sq-km ecological sanctuary.
Rain forest cover over 90% of the state of Amapa, which posts the lowest deforestation rate in the Amazon.