The commander of the Amazonas Military Fire Brigade (CBMAM), Colonel Orleilso Muniz, stated, this Friday (9), that the Federal Government denied a request for support to combat forest fires in Amazonas. The Ministry of the Environment contested the statement and said that support was offered at the end of September.
The divergence came to light after an interview by Colonel Muniz with Jornal do Amazonas 1st Edition, from Rede Amazônica. The commander said that the corporation requested firefighting aircraft because, according to him, "burning areas are also within the Federal Government's area of responsibility."
"We have already had negative feedback, which it would not be possible to support. I reinforce and appeal once again: the state of Amazonas needs to join forces with the Federal Government to carry out a qualified confrontation", he said.
The extraordinary secretary for deforestation control and environmental and territorial planning at the Ministry of the Environment, André Lima, refuted the statement. To the Amazon Network, he stated
"It doesn't work, because we even received a visit from the State Secretary of the Environment of Amazonas, at Ibama, a few days ago. We offered, we have already fought 211 fires in the State of Amazonas, which have already been extinguished", he said.
The secretary reinforced that teams from Ibama and ICMBio are working on 20 other forest fires ongoing in the region, with more than 250 professionals working permanently in the State and who will be reinforced by another 40 firefighters. He also pointed out that operations supported by the federal government are ongoing.
"We offered combatants from the RESPADE program, which is the Response to Integrated Actions for Disaster Situations, from the Ministry of Justice. An aircraft from the PEGASUS program, which is the Aircraft Management Project in Emergency Situations, also from the Ministry of Justice. All of this in support, an equipped helicopter, also mobilized with our agents."
IBAMA firefighters try to control burning points during a fire in Apui, Amazonas — Photo: Bruno Kelly/Reuters
Ibama states that request for support was 'promptly responded to'
Ibama reported that, on September 23, the State Secretariat for the Environment of Amazonas (Sema-AM) requested support from the Integrated Multi-Agency Center for Federal Operational Coordination (Ciman Federal).
According to the agency, a helicopter from the Aircraft Management Project for Emergency and Relief Situations (Project Pegasus) and fighters from the Response Project in Integrated Actions for Action in Disaster Situations (Respad), both from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, were "readily made available".
Ibama stated that, since then, Ciman Federal has not been activated again.
The agency also stated that three aircraft are in the reinforcement planned for the state: two planes and a helicopter.
The superintendent of Ibama in Amazonas, Joel Araújo, said that the Federal Government operates through brigadistas in the municipalities of Humaitá, Lábrea, Manicoré, Apuí, Autazes, Nova Olinda do Norte and Barreirinha.
Ibama also cites the approval of R$45 million from the Amazon Fund for the ProAmazon project, of the Amazonas Military Fire Department, aimed at the acquisition of vehicles, forest fire fighting vehicles and equipment for the agency.
g1 contacted CBMAM to request more information about the support request that would have been denied, but did not receive a response until the last update of this report.
