I fight wildfires in Brazil’s Amazon. Polluters should pay

Daniel Gutierrez Govino is a volunteer firefighter with the Brigada de Alter do Chão.

Some things cannot be expressed adequately in words: the sound of a home reduced to ashes, the sight of families fleeing, or the scent of a beautiful forest habitat turned into blackened wasteland.

That is the horror of witnessing the Amazon being consumed by wildfires.

Yet I cannot imagine ever turning my back on it and letting it burn. I am a volunteer forest firefighter, in the Brigada de Alter do Chão, which has operated for six years now in the state of Pará, Borari territory.

We are on the front lines of combatting forest fires in our community, and we help other communities establish groups like ours to provide the first response when wildfires occur.

To defend this rainforest - the soul of our country and a key to our planet’s survival - we volunteer to fight wildfires that put our lives at risk.

We are joining the “Polluters Pay Pact” to demand governments find the courage to impose significant taxes on the oil and gas corporations that literally fan the flames. 

The era of climate crisis is overlapping with inflation, budget cuts and chronic underfunding of public services. Although fires are getting worse, we are seeing cuts in pay and in the size of firefighting forces.

This is even happening in rich countries like in the European Union and the United States, where many firefighters accumulate more than a thousand hours of overtime a year. This puts remaining frontline workers at a higher risk of accidents and deaths.

Oil and gas companies should pay more for climate change. They are the primary cause of greenhouse gas emissions that heat the planet and trigger chain reactions such as polar ice melting, ocean acidification and forest destruction.

Last year, there were over half a million fire outbreaks across South American countries, at such a scale and rate that the forest cannot simply regrow. This happened despite Brazil’s celebrated efforts to decrease deforestation by 30%. It was the result of persistent and abnormal drought in 2024, fuelled by emissions of the fossil fuel industry and agribusiness that uses illegal fire to renew pastures. 

As tragic as it is, it should not come as a shock. Already three years ago, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that the number of wildfires will rise by 50% by the end of the century.

There are local drivers, like soy and cattle agribusiness - in which the federal government of Brazil invested 508.6 billion reais ($86.5 billion) last year - alongside illegal mining and plans for oil exploration at the seashore of the Amazon.

Added to these tremendous challenges is the global fossil fuel industry. The world’s largest oil and gas corporations are making money off the main products that are heating the planet.

Ordinary people, as well as innocent wildlife, are paying the price: in air pollution, killer drought, floods and fires. According to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, over half of infectious diseases are made worse by climate change.

We all pay with public funds and private donations that serve to support the work of underpaid and volunteer firefighter groups like mine. Such resources could have been invested in other social needs had fossil fuel companies not denied and derailed actions on climate change for decades.

The United Nations calls for international safety and health standards for firefighters, recognising the vulnerabilities of first responders. Indeed, firefighters are subject to physical, chemical, ergonomic, biologic, radiologic and mental health hazards.

That includes heart disease from exposure to a range of toxic chemicals, particulate matter, and extreme heat and a 300% higher chance of getting cancer. Those who have battled the recent flames in Los Angeles were found by an early study to have elevated levels of lead and mercury in their blood.

Volunteer brigades like ours need extinguishers, blowers, boots and protective masks. Even more importantly, we need planet-heating emissions to end so fires don’t become even worse. Words may fail to convey the horror of feeling the Amazon burn, but they should clearly deliver our call for justice.

As a firefighter, I'm proud to support people when they need it the most. It is time for governments to do the same and hold oil and gas corporations accountable. They must be made to pay.