Implementation of Fire Policies in Brazil: An Assessment of Fire Dynamics in Brazilian Savanna

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 13; no. 20; p. 11532
• Main Authors: de Andrade, Ananda Santa Rosa, Ramos, Rossano Marchetti, Sano, Edson Eyji, Libonati, Renata, Santos, Filippe Lemos Maia, Rodrigues, Julia Abrantes, Giongo, Marcos, da Franca, Rafael Rodrigues, Laranja, Ruth Elias de Paula
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2021
• Subjects: Dry season; Fire departments; Fire prevention; Fire resistance; Firefighters; Floods; Forest & brush fires; Impact analysis; International agreements; Landsat; Pattern analysis; Public policy; Rural areas; Satellites; Savannahs; Seasons; Spectroradiometers; Sustainability; Vegetation; Vegetation type; Wildfires; Brazil; United States > US
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su132011532

In 2012, the Brazilian government implemented the Federal Brigades Program (FBP), a fire policy strategy to hire and train firefighters to combat wildfires. This study analyzed the impact of this program on fire behavior before (2008–2012) and after (2013–2017) its implementation in the Parque do Araguaia Indigenous Land, the largest indigenous territory with the highest occurrence of fires in the Brazilian tropical savanna. We analyzed the annual pattern of fire incidence in the dry season, the fire impact per vegetation type, the recurrence, and the relationship between fire and precipitation. The datasets were based on active fire products derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Landsat and Resourcesat-based burned area products, and the records of the fire combat operations. Our results showed that FBP contributed to the reduction of the number of areas affected by fires and to the formation of a more heterogeneous environment composed of fire-resistant and fire-sensitive native vegetation fragments. On the other hand, after the implementation of the FBP, there was an increase in the recurrence of 3–4 years of fires. We concluded that the FBP is an important public policy capable of providing improvements in fire management activities.