Brazil waging 'war' on wildfires in crowded Sao Paulo state

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00Smoke so dense, the horizon is difficult to make out.

00:04This is the result of record wildfires in Brazil's Sao Paulo state,

00:09with more than 3,400 separate blazes identified,

00:13according to the National Institute for Space Research.

00:16The smoke, which even reached the capital more than 700 kilometres north,

00:20has disrupted flights and road traffic.

00:24I was returning from work as usual and suddenly the cars on the highway stopped.

00:29There were a lot of people, a lot of smoke, a lot of cars,

00:32and I thought, what am I going to do now?

00:34Luckily, I managed to get back to Franca and ended up sleeping there.

00:40On Sunday, authorities said military aircraft were being deployed to battle the flames,

00:45including to one of the most threatened cities, Ribeiro Preto, with 700,000 inhabitants.

00:51After a meeting with the Brazilian president,

00:53the country's environment minister said arson attacks were partially to blame.

01:00This is an atypical situation.

01:02In one week, practically in two days, several municipalities started burning at the same time.

01:11Right now, it's a real war against fire and against crime.

01:17Around Sao Paulo, farm fields have burned and scores of cattle have died.

01:21The governor said 1.6 million euros would go towards helping farmers who lost crops or livestock.

01:28Authorities were hoping that rain on Sunday would help alleviate the crisis.

01:32Prolonged drought in the region has aggravated the situation.

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