BRASILIA,
Brazil (AP) _ Firefighters working overnight had managed by Saturday
to largely put out a wildfire that destroyed a third of one of
Brazil"s major national parks, park authorities said. The
fire, which began two days ago, burned 50,000 acres of forested
highland savanna in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park in central
Brazil, said park director Rosalia Gonbim de Castro.
Only scattered
patches of flames remained, she said. To the south, two fires
in the Serra da Canastra National Park were extinguished Friday
after firefighters battled the flames for eight days, said Valdo
Veloso, spokesman for Brazil"s Environmental Protection Agency.
The fires destroyed 36,000 acres of savanna, one-fifth of the
park"s 179,000 acres, he said. The blazes were the latest
in a rash of fires fed by a searing dry season that have decimated
Brazil"s biologically important tropical savannas. The savanna
region _ characterized by hilly grasslands dotted by shrubs and
gnarled trees _ is tinder-dry after an especially severe dry season,
and officials fear more fires in coming weeks. "There is
a huge mass of dry grass and leaves in these parks that fuel the
fires and cause them to spread extremely rapidly," said Paulo
Cesar Mendes Ramos, chief of fire prevention for Brazil"s
national parks.
Scientists
will evaluate the impact of the fires to wildlife in the next
several weeks, Ramos said. The savanna parks are home to several
endangered species, including the lobo guara _ known in English
as the savanna wolf _ the jaguar and several bird species. Investigators
believe the fire in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park was started
by arsonists or someone illegally burning forest near a road on
the park"s fringe, Brazil"s Environmental Protection
Agency said in a press release.
A criminal
investigation has been launched, it said. The savanna region contains
one-third of Brazil"s plant and animal species, according
to the Brazilian branch of the World Wildlife Fund. The organization
estimated that only 30 percent of the original savanna that covered
much of central Brazil remains.
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