The president and first lady Janja flew over the airport on Sunday afternoon (15). The region is suffering from a fire that has already destroyed 1,200 hectares, according to the Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation and Biodiversity (ICMBio):
“This Sunday, together with Janja, I flew over the National Park affected by a large fire, like so many that have occurred across the country. The federal government is working together with the DF Fire Department to help fight the flames”, wrote the representative in a publication on BlueSky.
The president also stated that the Federal Police has 52 open investigations against , and that he will talk to the minister about the matter on Monday (16).
“The Ministry of Health has given guidance to protect ourselves from smoke, and tomorrow I will meet with Minister Marina Silva, and the government core to discuss further actions to deal with this climate emergency,” said Lula.
According to ICMBio, the fire originated outside the National Park, but arrived there at around 11:20 am. 15 firefighters from the institute were mobilized, in addition to 40 soldiers from the Federal District Fire Department (CBMDF) and five firefighters from the Brasília Environmental Institute (Ibram).
According to ICMBio, teams will continue fighting the fire throughout the night. There is still no information about the affected fauna.
Drought in Brasilia
Brasília completes 145 days without rain this Sunday and is three days away from arriving on Monday. According to the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), there is no forecast of rain until Wednesday (18), when the capital should complete 148 days without rain, surpassing a drought in 2004, which lasted 147 days.
The longest drought in Brasília’s history occurred in 1963, when the city went 163 days without rain. According to Inmet, the current forecast is that it will rain again from the 25th of this month, but weather conditions could still change and prolong the drought. The institute issued an orange low humidity alert for the Federal District.
Throughout this Sunday, relative humidity varied between 20% and 12%, posing risks of forest fires and health.
