Brazil government recruits brigade to fight bush fires
The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), a governmental environmental body, is hiring 1,152 brigade members to fight forest and bush fires this year. They will work in 72 environmental conservation units in areas of greater risk.
Forest fires are common during the dry season, from June to October, in Brazil's North, Central West, and Southeast regions. During this period, the fires tend to be fiercer and often get easily out of control. According ICMBio, most brush fires are caused by human action.
The institute had initially been planning to hire 450 firefighters, but eventually decided it was not enough. The personnel addition is an important reinforcement for fighting the fires in conservation areas, they said. The funds for the recruitment were authorized by the Environment Ministry Thursday (Jun. 30).
The firefighters will be hired for six-months contracts to cover the most critical periods of the dry season in the Amazon rainforest and the central region of the country. ICMBio has been actively working on prevention efforts in the conservation locations, including educational activities for neighboring communities and firebreak building (firebreaks are strips of land with no vegetation that help prevent bush fires from spreading).
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Brazil government recruits brigade to fight bush fires
