Amazon fires surge in Amazonas state as Brazil probes suspected arson

Right · 2Fires in Brazil's northwestern state of Amazonas have surged in October, with smoke shrouding the capital Manaus and prompting states of emergency in at least 36 municipalities. 1 2 Right · 1Reuters, carried by The Straits Times, cited the Amazon surveillance system as counting 1,679 fires in Amazonas in the first two weeks of October, a 253% rise on the same period last year. 1 Right · 1Arab News, citing satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research, reported 1,608 fire outbreaks so far this month against 874 for the whole of October 2025, and over 3,700 in September, nearly four times the year before. 2

Right · 1Arab News noted that this year's figures are compared with historically low levels in 2025. 2 Right · 2Smoke has severely worsened air quality in Manaus, closing public schools and cancelling outdoor events; a retired farmer in Autazes described the situation as "critical" and said he struggles to breathe at night. 1 2 Right · 2The two outlets differ on when schools closed (Wednesday per Reuters, Friday per Arab News) and on Manaus's population (over 2 million versus 2.3 million). 1 2

Right · 1Dry-season fires normally ease when rains arrive in October, but rains have been slow this year, and scientists and officials point to El Niño, predicted to be the strongest on record, and to climate change as drivers. 1 Right · 1Carlos Durigan of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute said water and heat stress, compounded by human activity, threaten biodiversity, health and the productivity of the land. 1 Right · 2Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco flew over the state on Sunday and saw fires, which he told AFP numbered in the hundreds, inside protected forest; he said their location suggests deliberate criminal activity to damage the forest and illegally seize land, rather than uncontrolled farming fires. 2 1

Right · 1Capobianco said those responsible appear to be acting in an organized and intense manner, and that a possible link to the election period remains a theory, pointing to prominent politicians using the fires in campaign propaganda without elaborating. 2 Right · 1São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas has accused President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government of negligence over the fires, and Lula faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in a runoff on 25 October. 2 Right · 2The federal government has sent aircraft and brigade crews, which Arab News puts at 11 aircraft and about 300 firefighters, and Capobianco expects to reverse the situation in the coming days. 1 2

Right · 1Capobianco was due in Manaus on Wednesday with the justice minister, federal police investigators and intelligence agents to identify those responsible, while state police are also investigating; he stressed that Amazon deforestation fell by half between 2022 and 2025. 2