The state of São Paulo set a record for fires in 2024, with 7,296 recorded between January and September 20 this year, according to data from Brazil's Institute for Space Research (INPE, in Portuguese).
Until then, the year with the record number of fires was 2010, when 7,291 outbreaks were recorded. The data correspond to INPE's historic series, which began in 1998.
It was reported that 171 wildfires occurred in the state, and 4,489 incidents of unauthorized use of fire occurred in pasture areas.
Of the 645 municipalities in São Paulo, 405 had at least one fire in September, according to INPE data, especially in agribusiness areas. By August, 236,000 hectares of sugarcane had burned in the state, according to the Mapbiomas platform.
Altinópolis, 346 km from São Paulo’s capital, was the record holder, with 125 fire cases. The municipality has an area of more than 64,000 hectares devoted to agriculture, which corresponds to 68.97% of its territory. Of these, 23,980 hectares are sugarcane plantations and 2,462 hectares are pasture for cattle.
Following Altinópolis is São Carlos, with 93 outbreaks of fire, where more than 68% of the territory is used for farming; Pitangueiras, with 90% of the territory occupied by pasture for cattle and crops; and Andradina and Olímpia, both with 70 outbreaks of fire and, respectively, 88.55% and 85.67% of the territory occupied by farming activities.
In total, these five municipalities have a total area of 179,503 hectares under sugar cane cultivation. On the other hand, the total area of forest in these locations is only 66,339 hectares, especially in Pitangueiras, where forest cover corresponds to just 3.34% of the territory. The data is for 2023 and was taken from the Mapbiomas platform.
In all, 14 municipalities in the state had more than 50 outbreaks in the period. And in 41 locations there were more than 31 occurrences, or at least one per day. The capital of São Paulo, as well as the city of Guarulhos, had three outbreaks each.
