Brazil Takes Up U.N. Offer of Help in Battling Amazon Blazes

Struggling to contain forest and savanna fires ravaging the northern Amazon region, Brazil has accepted an offer of help from the United Nations, officials said Tuesday.

The Brazilian government’s Environment Institute, known by the initials IBAMA, responded to an offer from the U.N. Department of Humanitarian Affairs on Monday, and local officials were drawing up a list of what kind of support is needed, a U.N. spokeswoman in Brasilia said.

The United Nations first contacted Brazil about helping fight forest fires in November, when burning jungle and farmland shrouded the city of Manaus, on the Amazon River, in thick smoke. Those fires were put out by rain soon afterward.

The U.N. recently renewed its offer as new and bigger fires ripped through Roraima state on Brazil’s border with Venezuela.

“Initially, we were offering long-term technical cooperation, but now it’s an emergency situation,” the spokeswoman said.

The United Nations provided support to Indonesia last year when fires sent a choking haze across much of Southeast Asia.

A spokeswoman for IBAMA confirmed that Brazil had accepted the latest U.N. offer.

Meanwhile, firefighters tackling blazes in Roraima said they were beginning to make progress.