A surge in fires across Brazil’s São Paulo state has killed three people and injured dozens, leading experts to suspect an orchestrated arson campaign.
Satellite images from Aug. 23 showed an initial 25 fire hotspots jumping to 1,886 in the span of just 90 minutes. The three people who died were all trying to fight the flames; two were firefighters. Police have arrested 11 suspects accused of intentionally setting fires, while authorities continue to investigate the suspicion of criminal arson.
“Whether these fires were coordinated or not, only the police can determine,” Ane Alencar, the science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), told Mongabay by phone. “What we know is that most of these fires happened within just over an hour, and much of the burned area includes sugarcane fields, [where farmers] typically don’t use fire anymore due to mechanized harvesting.”
The police are investigating motives, which remain unclear. Wolnei Wolff, Brazil’s secretary for civil defense, said 99.9% of the blazes in the state were ignited by human activity, not natural phenomena like lightning.
Low humidity, strong winds and high temperatures intensified the conditions. São Paulo state registered a total of 3,482 fire hotspots in August 2024, a 26-year high and nearly 10 times more than the same month last year, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
“Right now, it’s a real war against fire and crime,” said Marina Silva, Brazil’s environment minister. “It’s an atypical situation.”
The fires have cost the sugarcane industry more than 500 million reais ($88 million) in damages and the loss of an estimated 80,000 hectares (198,000 acres) of crops. At least 2,300 farm animals were reported killed.
Forests in both the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado savanna biomes accounted for 13.57% of the hotspots in the state from Aug. 22-24. The Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savanna and home to wildlife like giant anteaters and jaguars, replenishes vital water for the entire continent. In the neighboring Atlantic Forest, only 24% of the original biome still stands, and two-thirds of its trees are under threat of extinction.
The state government has ordered the closure of 80 conservation areas across the state until Sept. 12 to prevent further loss of habitat and biodiversity from fire.
Banner image: Thousands of wildfires ignited across São Paulo state in southern Brazil in late August, fueled by dry conditions and high winds. Image courtesy of Paulo Pinto/Agência Brasil.
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