Brazil faces historic wildfires: 80% of country covered in smoke, masks reappear

Brazil is suffering the effects of a multiplication of fires from north to south in the midst of an extreme drought linked to climate change. Photo / AFP

• Historic wildfires in Brazil have left 80% of the country under a blanket of smoke.
• Experts say inhaling smoke from the fires is comparable to smoking four or five cigarettes a day.
• Sao Paulo was ranked the world’s most polluted city, with residents reporting significant health impacts from pollution.

With as much as 80% of Brazil under a blanket of smoke from historic wildfires, face masks last used during the coronavirus pandemic are coming out again.

South America’s biggest country has for weeks been choking on pollution along with much of the rest of the continent battling extreme drought and record fires.

Millions of hectares of forest and farmland have burned in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru.

The Amazon basin, usually one of the wettest places on Earth, is experiencing its worst fires in nearly two decades, according to the EU’s Copernicus observatory.

And last week, satellite images from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), showed 80% of Brazil affected by smoke.

“I am a smoker but I’ve been coughing more than usual,” student Luan Monteiro, 20, told AFP in the port of Rio de Janeiro.

Indeed, experts say the effects of inhaling smoke from the fires are comparable to smoking four or five cigarettes a day.

Air pollution can worsen bronchitis and asthma, and the risk is greater the longer the exposure, according to paediatrician Renato Kfouri, vice-president of the Brazilian Immunisations Society.

In one of the biggest hospitals in the capital Brasilia, the number of patients treated for respiratory problems in recent days was more than 20 times higher than usual.

Brazil is suffering the effects of a multiplication of fires from north to south in the midst of an extreme drought linked to climate change. Photo / AFP

‘I put on my mask’

In Brasilia, which has had 160 days without rain, homemaker Valderes Loyola said she had bought a fan to blow over wet towels and buckets of water to try to add moisture to the dry air.

“When I go out, I put on my mask,” the 72-year-old told AFP.

Sao Paulo, Latin America’s biggest metropolis, for several days last week was ranked the world’s most polluted city by Swiss-based monitoring firm IQAir.

At least 40% of residents of Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, and 29% in Rio de Janeiro say their health was affected “very much” by pollution, according to pollsters Datafolha.

Internet searches for “air quality” reached record levels in Brazil in recent days, according to the Google Trends tool, which also reported an increase in searches for “humidifier” and “air purifier”.

Experts warn about outdated air quality monitoring in Brazil and a dearth of emergency plans to deal with smoke pollution.

Less than 2% of municipalities have air monitoring stations, Evangelina Araujo of the Instituto Ar pollution think tank told AFP.

And only one in five can detect the fine particles found in smoke that should trigger health warnings.

Authorities blame human activity for most of the recent fires in Brazil, where they are often linked to land clearing for agriculture.

Neighbouring Bolivia on Monday declared a national disaster because of forest fires affecting most of its Santa Cruz department, where authorities said 7.2 million hectares have burned since last week.