Firefighters Put out Flames in Brazilian Park
9/30/98
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Title: Firefighters Put out Flames in Brazilian Park
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 9/30/98
BRASILIA - Firefighters on Monday put out the last flames of raging bush
fires that destroyed a large area of a national park in Brasilia, killing
wildlife and smothering the Brazilian capital with smoke, an official
said.
About 300 firemen and volunteers brought the situation under control in
the 74,000-acre (30,000-hectare) Brasilia National Park shortly before
heavy rains broke the annual dry season, a spokeswoman for the official
Environment Institute (IBAMA) said.
About one third of the park was burned by the fires although much of the
tough, scrub vegetation is naturally fire resistant and would recover
quickly, the spokeswoman said.
"Everyone's going to say it was the rain but to be fair, the firefighters
put out the last fires half an hour before the clouds broke," she said.
Earlier this year, Brazilian authorities struggled to put out far bigger
fires in the northern Amazonian state of Roraima until heavy rains fell,
coincidentally just a few hours after two indigenous shamans performed a
rain dance.
The Brasilia National Park, which is off-limits to visitors, is considered
a sanctuary for rare species from Brazil's central savanna region, like
the giant anteater. The burned corpse of an anteater was found on Sunday,
newspapers said.
The fire began on Saturday when a bonfire to destroy rubbish in an area
close to the park spread out of control, fanned by strong winds.
The number of fires spotted by satellites during this year's dry season in
central Brazil and in the Amazonian north have doubled this year amid
drier conditions linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon.
(C) Reuters Limited 1998.