Notícias
Press Release No. 404
Brazilian Humanitarian Mission to Combat Fires along the Border with Bolivia
The Brazilian government has decided to send a humanitarian mission, in coordination with Bolivian authorities, to combat the ongoing forest fires along the shared border between the two countries. These fires pose a threat to the Brazilian Pantanal as well.
The Brazilian humanitarian mission is being coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), and led by a disaster specialist from the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR). The mission will comprise 37 military firefighters from the National Public Security Force, under the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), and 25 members of the Federal District Military Fire Department.
An advance team of the mission departed on September 5 to join Bolivian forces and establish a joint command based in the city of San Ignacio de Velasco, in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The mission command will work closely with the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), both under the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA). Aerial surveillance and satellite maps will be used to identify fire hotspots along the border with the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, to be extinguished through joint operations.
In addition to combating the fires on the Bolivian side of the border, the joint mission will take preventive measures to prevent new fires from reaching Brazilian territory.
Of the 112 fires recorded in recent weeks in the Pantanal region, 18 are still active, 23 have been controlled by the task force led by the Forest Fire Prevention and Combat Center – Prevfogo (linked to IBAMA/MMA), and 71 have been extinguished. Brazilian teams have been working on these efforts since June in those two states.