Rain Douses Amazon Fires, Fight Still Continues
4/1/98
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Rain Douses Amazon Fires, Fight Still Continues
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 4/1/98
Byline: William Schomberg
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Rain has put out virtually all the fires raging in the
savannah and jungles of Brazil's northern Amazon, but one official warned
Wednesday there was still a risk of new outbreaks.
Satellite images showed that more than 95 percent of the worst Amazon fires on
record had been extinguished by heavy rains Tuesday and Wednesday, the
Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) said.
``We're out of the crisis phase,'' said Evaristo de Miranda, an environmental
researcher at Embrapa. ``It's a divine coincidence. Most of the rain fell on
the areas with most fires.''
But the head of Brazil's Environment Institute said it was too early to declare
the crisis over because carpets of leaves and branches in the jungle stayed dry
and could burn again.
``We must not be too optimistic,'' Eduardo Martins said by telephone from Boa
Vista, capital of the remote Roraima state on Brazil's border with Venezuela.
``There is a risk of reignition. We must hope for further heavy rain.''
Weather forecasters said rain was expected to fall in Roraima for the next
three days. The region's rainy season is only expected to begin fully at the
end of April.
Fires set by subsistence farmers and fueled by a drought linked to the El Nino
weather phenomenon have raged for more than two months in Roraima, ravaging an
area the size of Lebanon, according to an official estimate.
While much of the area affected is savannah, where the vegetation recovers
quickly after fire, flames have also advanced into the more fragile rainforest,
including the huge reservation of the primitive Yanomami Indians.
As firefighters struggled with the flames, a downpour Tuesday, followed by more
rain Wednesday, proved decisive.
``All the planes in the world would not have been able to match what the
heavens dumped on Roraima over the last two days,'' de Miranda said.
An army spokesman for a 1,700-strong firefighting team in Roraima said that
while the rain was a relief, the operation would continue at full pace.
``The rain helped a lot but the fight continues because not all the fires are
out,'' the spokesman said.
In Boa Vista, people celebrated as the smoke which has hung over the region for
weeks was washed away.
Television newscasts showed firemen dancing in puddles while two Indian
shamans, who Monday night performed a traditional rain-conjuring ritual, smiled
for the cameras in the downpour.
Many residents have attributed the rain to the medicine men. But de Miranda
said there was also a scientific explanation. Rains often follow the passage of
the sun directly over the equator and that phenomenon, marking the start of
sub-equatorial spring, occurred on March 20, he said.
As concerns over controlling the fires eased, the Brazilian government and
international organizations began considering ways of avoiding further fires in
the Amazon.
World Bank representatives were holding talks with Brazilian disaster relief
officials over a possible loan to fund prevention and detection of forest
fires, the Planning Ministry said.
Brazil has no specialized airborne firefighting equipment of its own and its
few trained forest firefighters had never worked in the Amazon before the
crisis in Roraima.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited Republication and
redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.