Brazil's federal government announced on Saturday (17) the deployment of five additional aircraft and the mobilization of military personnel and federal police to reinforce the fight against forest fires in Amazonas state. With the reinforcements, the fleet assigned to operations in the state grows from 11 to 16 aircraft, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The package also includes R$ 14 million (about US$ 2.6 million) from the National Civil Defense for logistics, protective and firefighting equipment and the hiring of two aircraft, plus a base of the SUS National Force, the emergency arm of Brazil's public health system, in Manaus, scheduled for Tuesday (20).
The expansion came on a day when the smoke itself hindered the response. According to Ibama, the federal environmental agency, low visibility on Saturday grounded firefighting aircraft at the two airports used in Manaus, and the agency said it expected conditions to improve before flights could resume. The state capital recorded air quality classified as dangerous by the IQAir platform in the morning, a result of fires in the interior of Amazonas and in neighboring states.
Fleet and personnel
Among the new aircraft is a second military KC-390, able to drop up to 19,000 liters of water per flight, joining another plane of the same model already in operation with a capacity of 12,000 liters. Helicopters will drop water and carry crews and equipment to hard-to-reach areas. Since federal support operations began on October 9, about 600,000 liters of water have been dropped on the fire fronts in 260 flight hours, according to Folha de S.Paulo.
On personnel, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security had announced on Thursday (15) the dispatch of 29 more firefighters and nine vehicles by October 21, which will raise the ministry's presence in Amazonas to 160 professionals, including 120 contracted firefighters and 40 agents of the National Force, a federal public security contingent. The Federal Police and the Federal Highway Police are also part of the mobilization, and the government pledged to step up investigations into reports of deliberately set fires, without disclosing how many cases are under review or naming suspects.
A delegation of ministers arrives in Manaus on Sunday (18) to coordinate the reinforced operations: João Paulo Capobianco (Environment and Climate Change), Wellington César Lima e Silva (Justice and Public Security), José Múcio Monteiro (Defense) and Waldez Góes (Regional Development).
The federal escalation tracks the worsening situation in the state. On October 10, the Amazonas state government declared an emergency in 36 municipalities, a measure recognized hours later by the Ministry of Regional Development, a required step to unlock federal funds. On the health front, the Environment Ministry says the SUS National Force base is preventive: so far, according to the ministry, Manaus health services have not been overwhelmed by the smoke.
The crisis unfolds at the peak of the Amazon fire season, when blazes in the interior of Amazonas and in neighboring states concentrate smoke over the capital and expose the public health dimension of the problem. The federal government has not given a forecast for bringing the fires under control, and the number of additional agents to be sent has yet to be defined.