The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) released data related to the number of fires on Brazilian territory last August. According to the study, from January 1 to August 26, 2024, more than 100,000 fire outbreaks were recorded throughout the national territory, an increase of 78% compared to the same period of the previous year, when 61,720 cases were recorded.

Also according to the study, 32% of the seats of fires are in the Cerrado area, according to the most affected biome, only second to the Amazon (47%). The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in an action for the preservation of the Cerrado biome, carries out regular wildfire prevention activities, as in last July, at the IBGE Ecological Reserve (RECOR), an area with about 1400 hectares, located 25 km South from the center of Brasília (DF), bordered to the west by Fazenda Água Limpa (FAL), an demonstration farm with 4,500 hectares owned by UnB (University of Brasília), and by the Ecological Station of the Brasília Botanic Garden (EEJBB) with approximately 4,500 hectares to the north and east.    

A RECOR/IBGE is part of the Federal District's Action Plan on Forest Fires (PPCIF/DF), a system of institutional partnerships aimed at protecting the Cerrado biome. Along with other groups, such as the Military Fire Brigade of the Federal District (CBM/DF) and IBAMA-PREVFOGO, the IBGE’s Volunteer Forest Fire Brigade creates firebreaks along the highways that cross the area (DF-001 and BR-251), an activity that consists of controlled burning of part of the vegetation on the edges of the location to reduce the risk of provoked or natural fires during the dry season, between the months of April and September in the region. On the occasion, the IBGE brought a water truck and five more brigade members out of a total of 60 people who took part in the action. The Brigade is also on duty in the area at weekends during the most critical period of the dry season until the beginning of the rains so that for any incident there will be a minimum response time.  

Within the Unit, road maintenance activities were carried out using mechanical firebreaks (with small and medium-sized tractors), mowing using a backpack brushcutter (portable mechanical mowers), by cutting and pruning trees, removing existing green material and debris, on a total of 31 hectares, activities performed by  a specialized company. All of this makes it extremely difficult for a possible fire to come from outside the Unit, as well as making it easier for firefighters to move around in the case of an emergency. Besides these actions, the RECOR/IBGE took part in awareness-raising activities, such as educational blitzes with elementary school pupils from the Escola Classe do Jardim Botânico. In addition to the Brigade, the Military Fire Brigade of the Federal District (CBM/DF), IBAMA-PREVFOGO and the brigades of the neighboring protected areas (JBB, FAL/UnB, Navy and Air Force) took part in the environmental protection activities in the region. 

The Recor/IBGE is part of the Action Plan on Forest Fires of the Federal District (PPCIF/DF), a system of institutional partnerships aimed at protecting the Cerrado biome - Photo: Ascom JBB

Ivone Lopes Batista, director of Geosciences at the IBGE, reiterated that "the preventive firebreak actions at the IBGE Reserve in Brasília are part of a commitment to the protection of biodiversity and the ecosystem, considering the fire threats, which intensify in the drier season. In the case of the RECOR, this is even more significant as we are part of a mosaic of protected areas, which amplifies the impact of our actions beyond the limits of our reservation, benefiting a much larger area of the Cerrado."  

Luciano Guimarães, the deputy manager of the RECOR/IBGE and a civil servant at the Institute, said that the concern about forest fires goes back a long way: "Practically from the start, a Volunteer Brigade was created with the employees themselves. In 2019, it celebrated its 40th anniversary," explained Guimarães.

The manager also said that the Brigade currently has a tanker truck with a jet pump and tools such as a hoe, an axe, a rake, backpack pumps and fire beaters. "Everyone feels as if they are protecting their own home. This is an activity that we feel the need to participate in because we work here developing a love for the Unit. It is a sense of responsibility for the integrity of the area, be it fauna or flora," added Guimarães.

More about RECOR/IBGE 

The IBGE Ecological Reserve - RECOR is a protected area of scientific interest under the management of the IBGE. Created on December 22, 1975, with a Short and Long Term Ecological Research Program for the Cerrado Biome and an innovative Management Plan, the IBGE Ecological Reserve has become a reference in the production of environmental information motivated by the concern to provide information for sustainable territorial planning for the Cerrado biome. Since 1998, it has been part of the elite group of long-term ecological research stations that make up national and continental networks linked to the ILTER network (International Long-Term Research Network). 

Covering 1,391.25 hectares and located in the south-central part of the Federal District, 26 km from the administrative center of Brasília, the Reserve is part of the Federal District's mosaic of protected areas (APA Gama Cabeça de Veado (District Decree no. 9.471, of April 21, 1986); APA do Planalto Central (Decree s/nº of the Presidency of the Republic, of January 10, 2002); Cerrado Biosphere Reserve ("Man and the Biosphere" Program - MAB, UNESCO, 1971 - District Law no. 742, of July 28, 1994). The area is home to a wide variety of ecosystems and provides protection for the more than 4,000 species that have already been inventoried (including 55 endangered species and around 91 species endemic to the Cerrado biome).

About to complete five decades of existence, the IBGE Ecological Reserve - RECOR - has an important and representative database of scientific information on the Cerrado, from ecological studies through sampling or experimentation, standardized inventories of fauna and flora, and integrated environmental studies from the perspective of vulnerability and ecological risk. It offers research laboratories, accommodation and restaurants, among other facilities, and provides basic data and information on the area through scientific collections, the climatological station and georeferenced databases (SIG RECOR). This production of knowledge was the result of the work of staff from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and from national and foreign partner institutions.