“I saw them working without water to drink, I saw them exhausted and dirty but continuing non-stop; all this to avoid the burning of the Amazon.”

Their stories are rarely told, but firefighters are some of the most impactful defenders of the “Earth’s lungs”.

The 15-minute film depicts the Amazon fire brigades working inhuman hours under oppressive conditions, highlighting one of the tactics they use to tackle runaway blazes that threaten the world’s largest rainforest.

This is their story.

Inspired by scientsits

The film was funded by Lancaster University and UK Research and Innovation, the public body that funds and coordinates research and innovation across the United Kingdom. It is the creation of an international team of scientists that have been studying he Tapajos region of the Amazon rainforest since 2010. Over the course of their work, which included studies on the impact of wildfires, they witnessed firsthand the efforts of the fire brigades. This sparked a desire to share their stories.

“On a personal level, for me, the motivation to do the film is my immense admiration towards these men,” said Dr Erika Berenguer, of Lancaster University and the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. “They were putting their own bodies at risk, I saw a burning log falling on the head of one of them, I saw them working without water to drink, I saw them exhausted and dirty but continuing non-stop; all this to avoid the burning of the Amazon.

“During the combat, one of them died while driving on a road with poor visibility due to smoke. Their stories are never told, but they were the protagonists of this fight.”

Many areas of the Amazon are very prone to fires. A commonly used control tactic is creating corridors carved from the forest floor, where all the vegetation is removed with manual tools and leaf blowers. Doing this, however, often puts firefighters in very risky situations.

“Without the efforts of the fire brigades, who are working in high temperatures and exposed to smoke inhalation, much larger areas of the forest, one of the most biodiverse forests on Earth, would become damaged by fire,” said Dr Berenguer. “The Amazon should not burn, and when it does the fires change the composition of the forest . . . impact biodiversity, but also cause significant carbon emissions.”

Science and firefighters

The documentary also notes that scientific research is helping highlight better forest management practices. For instance, researchers caution against using fire for deforestation — a disturbingly common practice in some parts of the Amazon — as an area that has burned once is at greater risk of further fire.

“When forests have been damaged by fires, that leaves them more vulnerable to more intense fires that burn much more rapidly as there is more fuel in the form of dead trees killed by previous blazes. And a more open canopy allows more air in to further fan the flames,” says Dr. Joice Ferreira of Embrapa in Brazil, one of the researchers in the film.

The scientists have noticed changes in the fires over the 14 years they have been visiting the region.

“The fires are changing. Last year they were more intense than when we visited in 2015,” said Dr Berenguer. “Back then flames were only 30 cm in height, burning slowly across the forest floor. This time flames were reaching 15-20 metres in certain places. This has completely changed the dynamic of the combat for the fire fighters.”

Real life heroes

Professor Jos Barlow of Lancaster University commissioned the video because he felt it is important for policy makers in Brazil, and the general public, to see the difficulty and the critical nature of the work undertaken by the fire brigades.

“We decided to make the film when we were talking to firefighters in December 2023 — they were telling us about their experiences and showing us their videos, and it was clear their story needed to be told,” said Professor Barlow.

“We wanted to let the local firefighters and residents tell their story, reaching a broad audience including government bodies, people involved in planning and funding fire-fighting activities, as well as the general public. The aim was to help attract attention to the problem, some of the techniques they use that are most effective, and the importance of their actions.”

Deforestation for beef is the main driver of forest loss in the Amazon, and it is often done through burning.

However, despite the heroic actions of the fire brigades, the scientists caution that the best defence against forest fires is prevention.

“It’s much more efficient to prevent rather than fight fires,” said Dr Ferreira. “Unfortunately this is not currently the case in the Amazon where the emphasis is on fighting fires, and very little on prevention.”

We can also all make a difference to fight deforestation in the Amazon by supporting sustainable and certified products, reducing our consumption of beef and supporting organizations dedicated to Amazon conservation. Even just watching this video and being aware of the immense efforts put into protecting the Amazon is a start.