Sweat, smoke and flames: fighting fires in the Amazon

For a moment, the Brazilian firefighters were taken aback by the sudden rage of the climbing flames: the speed at which they grew and moved, carried by the evening wind.

Under the supervision of fire fighters from Brazil’s environment agency Ibama, a farmer in this remote part of the Amazon had set alight undergrowth along part of his land, a last-ditch attempt to divert a major fire approaching his home by starving fuel from the encroaching flames.