Beginning Saturday, Brazilian armed forces will deploy to indigenous regions, border areas and other places where the fire has burned for a month in an effort to extinguish the blaze. The military will work with public security and other environmental agencies, according to the Associated Press Friday evening.
“Charred trees and fallen branches were seen around Porto Velho, the capital of Rondonia state, which borders Bolivia,” the report said. “In some instances, the burned fields were adjacent to intact livestock ranches and other farms, suggesting the fires had been managed as part of a land-clearing policy.”
The fire has reached into the forests, woods and fields of neighboring countries Bolivia and Paraguay, and protestors have demonstrated in South American countries as well as diplomatic areas in Paris, London, Geneva and Bogota, Colombia to urge Brazil to do a better job at combatting and containing the fire.
Bolivian Defense Minister Javier Zavaleta said about 2,900 square miles (7,500 square kilometers) have been affected in his country. Another 140 square miles (370 square kilometers) have burned in Paraguay near the Brazil-Bolivia border, according to a Paraguayan state official.
“I worry that the current deforestation will push past the tipping point leading to massive loss of forest and biodiversity,” Lovejoy told The Associated Press.
NASA scientist Doug Morton said the burnoff of forestation is creating more carbon, which ultimately affects greenhouses gases and climate change.
President Donald Trump said he spoke with Bolsonaro, telling the Brazilian president the U.S. is ready to help as needed.
