Brazilian military says army troops arrive to fight blazes

World Today

BRAZIL-FIRE-DEFORESTATION-AMAZONHandout aerial picture released by Greenpeace showing smoke billowing from forest fires in the municipality of Candeias do Jamari, close to Porto Velho in Rondonia State, in the Amazon basin in northwestern Brazil, on August 24, 2019. – Brazil on August 25 deployed two Hercules C-130 aircraft to douse fires devouring parts of the Amazon rainforest. The latest official figures show 79,513 forest fires have been recorded in the country this year, the highest number of any year since 2013. More than half of those are in the massive Amazon basin. Experts say increased land clearing during the months-long dry season to make way for crops or grazing has aggravated the problem this year. (Photo by Victor MORIYAMA / GREENPEACE / AFP)

Brazil’s Army has joined the fight to contain fires ripping through the Amazon rainforest.

Hundreds of new blazes have ignited, creating an even greater challenge for firefighters.
CGTN’s Philip Crowther reports from Manaus, the capital of the vast state of Amazonas.

Brazil on August 25 deployed two Hercules C-130 aircraft to douse fires devouring parts of the Amazon rainforest. The latest official figures show 79,513 forest fires have been recorded in the country this year, the highest number of any year since 2013.

More than half of those are in the massive Amazon basin. Experts say increased land clearing during the months-long dry season to make way for crops or grazing has aggravated the problem this year.

Brazilians returned to the streets to protest President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the wildfires. They say his response has been far too slow.

CGTN’s Lucrecia Franco reports from Rio de Janeiro.