kids encyclopedia robot

2019 Brazil wildfires facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
2019 Brazil wildfires
Location Brazil
Statistics
Date(s) January 2019 to present
Deaths 2

The 2019 Brazil wildfires were a series of many large fires that happened in Brazil starting in January 2019. More than 75,000 fires were counted across the country.

By August 2019, many fires were burning in the Amazon rainforest. These fires were in four Brazilian states: Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, and Pará. Amazonas is the biggest state in Brazil. It has the largest areas of untouched rainforest in the world. Over 39,000 fires were found in Amazonas alone.

The government of Amazonas declared a state of emergency on August 11. This means they needed extra help to deal with the fires. However, the federal government and the President, Jair Bolsonaro, said the fire numbers were not real. They did not want to help stop the fires. They also refused help from other countries.

Why the Fires Started

In August, President Bolsonaro said that people were not allowed to set fires in the Amazon for 60 days. But many fires happen when people want to clear land for farming. First, they cut down trees and leave them to dry. Then, they set the dry trees on fire. This clears the land. Even with the ban, many trees were still cut down. People could just wait to burn them later.

Fires in the Cerrado Grassland

Wildfires were also a big problem in the Cerrado. The Cerrado is a large grassland area in Brazil. It is home to many rare plants and animals. About 40% of the animals living there are found nowhere else on Earth. The fires harmed this special place too.

Related pages

Images for kids

  • Queimadas e suas cicatrizes no Sul do Pará, em Altamira Agricultural fires at southern Pará, Brazil (48594171041)

    Agricultural fires in southern Pará, Brazil in August 2019.

  • 2019 amazon wildfires purus river 20190816

    INPE satellite image of a 70 by 70 mile area along the Purus River in Amazonas. It shows smoke from wildfires and deforested areas.

  • Smoke in Brazil 2

    Smoke arriving at the Southeast region of Brazil on 19 August 2019.

  • Carbon monoxide from Amazon fires

    Images showing carbon monoxide from Amazon fires from August 8-22, 2019.

  • Amazon fire satellite image

    Locations of active wildfires (marked in orange) in the Amazon as of August 22, 2019.

  • Amazon River Fires from July to October 2019 (cropped)

    The EU response to the Amazon rainforest wildfires.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Incendios de la selva amazónica de 2019 para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
2019 Brazil wildfires Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.