Candidates vying for command of city halls in municipalities with the highest rates of fire have ignored proposals to combat fire. Survey carried out by CNN – based on the 10 cities that recorded the most fires in 2024 – shows that only 23.2% of politicians presented fire measures in their government plans.
The majority of these municipalities are in the North region. And São Félix do Xingu (PA) is the city with the highest number of fires recorded this year: 7,044, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
See the 10 municipalities with the highest fire rates in 2024:
1) São Félix do Xingu (PA): 7,044 fires
2) Altamira (PA): 5,660 fire outbreaks;
3) Corumbá (MS): 4,791 fires;
4) Novo Progresso (PA): 4,731 fires;
5) Apuí (AM): 4,409 fires;
6) Lábrea (AM): 4,009 fires;
7) Itaituba (PA): 3,086 fires;
8) Porto Velho (RO): 2,936 fires;
9) Colniza (MT): 2,435 fires;
10) Lagoa da Confusão (TO): 2,420 fires.
In total, 43 candidates are competing for command of these municipalities, according to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). And only 10 of them included measures to prevent and combat fires in their government plans. Among those running for re-election, this number is almost negligible. Only one has a proposal in this regard.
It is also worth highlighting that in four cities there is not even a proposal. They are: Colniza (MT), Apuí (AM), Novo Progresso (PA) and Altamira (PA).
After the escalation of fire outbreaks throughout Brazil, the federal government called on governors to participate in a meeting in Brasília on the topic. The proposal is for coordinated action with state executives to combat fires
After the meeting, however, governors classified the federal government’s actions as late. For state representatives, the measures announced by Planalto so far should only have an impact in 2025.
Record number of fires
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, said that Brazil has almost 5 million square kilometers at risk for fires.
To combat the fires, the federal government sent a provisional measure (MP) to Congress to open extraordinary credit of R$514 million for the Legal Amazon. The measure was defined after authorization from the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Flávio Dino to release resources outside the fiscal framework for fire prevention, without impact on fiscal goals.
