Brazil fire brigades fight Amazon blazes off to torrid start in 2024

The area burnt in the Brazilian Amazon nearly doubled in the first seven months of 2024 from the same period of last year to the largest since 2004, according to satellite data from government space research agency INPE. The fires consumed an area of 26,246km2 in the period — larger than the U.S. state of Maryland, or about the size of Rwanda.Conditions are only expected to worsen, as fires in the Amazon typically peak in August and September before seasonal rains arrive.Last year’s rains came late and were weaker than normal due to an El Nino weather pattern supercharged by climate…