MT in Focus – President of TCE-MT signs protocol and defends integration to combat forest fires

The president of the Mato Grosso Court of Auditors (TCE-MT), advisor Sérgio Ricardo, defended the integration between the state, municipalities and the private sector to reverse the forest fire scenario. The issue was addressed this Thursday (25), during the signing of a protocol of intentions to intensify firefighting actions.

The unprecedented document establishes mutual cooperation between the TCE-MT, the State Secretariats for the Environment (Sema) and Public Security (Sesp), the Fire Department, the Mato Grosso Association of Municipalities (AMM) and the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock (Famato), aiming to strengthen preparedness, prevention and response to hot spots, which have already reached 3,929 this year in Mato Grosso.

“The Court is in this process because it talks directly with all the mayors, so we are going to ask them to move. This is a call for help for everyone to come together, because otherwise, we will increasingly have losses for Mato Grosso and for the producer”, stated Sérgio Ricardo.

By highlighting the impact of arson on climate change, the president endorsed the tightening of supervision, enforcement and payment of fines. “If there is no such punishment, the public authorities continue to work, trying to prevent it, and a part of the population continues to disregard the rules, setting fires.”

Among the actions foreseen in the protocol is the creation of Forest Fire Monitoring Rooms by city halls, which must also hire municipal firefighters for a period of four months. The training of these professionals will be the responsibility of the Fire Department.

“If we unite city halls, the state and the productive sector, we will be able to give much more dynamism to combat actions. It is not possible for the responsibility for all work, which begins with prevention, at the school bench, and goes all the way to the actual combat, to be solely the responsibility of the Fire Department”, states the president of AMM, Leonardo Bortolin.

Bortolin cited the role of the agricultural sector in the initiative. “The idea is to also raise awareness among producers, who can help either with a plane, a loader or a motor grader. The city hall can send a water truck, for example. With this integrated work, I am sure that we will reduce fires.”

The issue was reinforced by the general commander of the Fire Department, Colonel Alessandro Borges Ferreira. “The objective is to do work on the cutting edge, increasing our reach within the state, which is very large. Every city hall also has its responsibility in this process, through the Environment departments.”

According to the colonel, between the months of July and October the drought and dry weather will intensify, increasing the threat of fires in the state’s three biomes. For this reason, the use of fire is now prohibited. “In the Cerrado and the Amazon, the ban lasts until November, and in the Pantanal, until December,” he added.

Famato’s Administrative and Financial Director, Robson Marques, said that “this initiative represents a joint effort by the institutions involved to mitigate the impacts of forest fires, which year after year devastate the state of Mato Grosso, causing damage to the environment, production agriculture in our state and putting the lives of people and animals at risk. Annually, we guide rural producers to adopt fire prevention measures, seeking to preserve our natural resources and ensure everyone’s safety.”