The Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilhasaid this Saturday (Aug 24, 2024) that the government is willing to help the Government of São Paulo to alleviate the situation of the municipalities that are on high alert because of the fires that are ravaging the State.
“We are monitoring the serious situation of fires in the State of São Paulo, with 30 cities on high alert, highways closed, and frightening scenarios”declared Padilha in X (ex-Twitter).
“We are working to ensure that measures are taken as quickly as possible and the situation is resolved”he said when expressing solidarity with the friends and family of the two firefighters who died in Urupês, trying to control the fire.
The government of Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans) created a crisis office to manage monitoring and control actions for the situation. According to the Civil Defense Emergency Management Center (CGE), there are active fires in 30 cities, which is why a maximum alert for major fires was established.
“These are locations with low air humidity and high risk due to the heat wave that is affecting the entire state”declared the Government of São Paulo in a note. There is a risk that these fires will be intensified by gusts of wind, reaching large areas of natural vegetation, in addition to emitting “dense and toxic smoke that harms the environment and human health, causing problems to the respiratory system and cardiovascular disorders.”
Smoke has spread across several areas of the state, and there are records of relative humidity below 20%, in addition to very intense heat – which makes the situation even worse. According to the São Paulo government, two employees of a plant in Urupês died trying to fight the flames.
Some large fires led the local government to close some highways, which ended up impacting “significantly” traffic in several regions. Alerts have been issued suggesting that drivers avoid certain routes and that they constantly update themselves on traffic conditions on the route before hitting the road.
“The main recommendation is to avoid crossing areas with smoke and fire curtains. If this is not possible, reduce speed, keep your low beam headlights on and maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front.”said the note from the Government of São Paulo.
The municipalities on maximum alert for fires are:
- Aluminum;
- Araraquara;
- Bernardino de Campos;
- Good Hope of the South;
- Golden;
- Iacanga;
- Itapolis;
- Itirapina;
- Jau;
- Lucélia;
- Monte Alegre do Sul;
- Blue Mountain Paulista;
- New Granada;
- Piracicaba;
- Pirapora of Bom Jesus;
- Surinam cherry trees;
- Poloni;
- Pompeii;
- Headland;
- President Epitacio;
- Sabino;
- Brine;
- Saint Anthony of Joy;
- Saint Anthony of Arancanguá;
- Saint Bernard of the Field;
- Saint Simon;
- Little backlands;
- Taquarituba;
- Little tower; and
- Ubarana.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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