Amazon Fires: Warplanes Brought in to Fight Blaze
The fires raging through the rainforests of the Amazon delta have prompted Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro to authorise his country’s military to help fight the blaze.
Following an international outcry last week about the fires raging unabated, Bolsonaro gave permission for military operations involving 44 000 troops to combat the escalating disaster in seven states on Sunday, 25 August.
The defence ministry posted a video on Saturday night, 24 August, which showed a Hercules C-130 support plane dumping 12 000 of litres of water as it passed over the burning forest canopy.
National heads of the G7 countries gathered in France on Saturday for their annual summit to discuss the ecological disaster, and to plan rescue efforts.
Pope Francis expressed his worry to a crowd at St. Peter’s Square last night, calling for global action as the “lung of forests is vital for our planet”.
The Amazon regularly experiences forest fires during the dry season, but in recent years it has experienced an increase in their numbers due to the developmental policies of Bolsonaro’s government.
