Amazonas wildfire hotspots fell nearly 40% in October

Amazonas recorded 2,258 wildfire hotspots in October, a 39.4% drop from September, according to Brazil’s space research institute, Inpe.

The state nevertheless ranked sixth nationwide, with 8,515 hotspots recorded in the monitoring tally.

Fire activity had surged 271% in the first 10 days of October, with about 1,380 incidents, nearly four times the number in the same period last year.

Many fires were on public land, and the monitoring system linked 174 incidents to deforestation while giving no specific cause for most others.

Smoke in Manaus led the city and two universities to suspend classes for a week because of poor air quality.

State and federal governments sent 18 aircraft, which dropped 3.2 million litres of water to fight fires.

Authorities also issued more than R$8.5 million in fines and imposed restrictions on more than 916 hectares of land during inspections.