Brazil reduces 70% of area burned in the first quarter of 2025

Of the total burned areas, 78% are native vegetation

By Fabíola Sinumbú – Agência Brasil

In the first three months of 2025, the extent of all areas affected by fires in the country totaled 91,900 hectares. Compared to the same period of the previous year, when 2.1 million hectares were registered, there was a reduction of 70% in the national territory affected by the fire.

Of the total burned areas 78% are native vegetation, and 43% of what was consumed by fire were country formation.

Among the Brazilian states, Roraima was the one that burned the most in these three months, totaling 415,700 hectares. Pará was the second hardest hit, with 208.6 thousand hectares burned and Maranhão lost 123,800 hectares to the fire, the third being on the list. Among the cities, Pacaraima and Normandy, both in Roraima, were the most affected, with 121,500 and 119.1 thousand hectares, respectively.

According to the researcher of the Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon (Ipam) Felipe Martenexen, Roraima experiences its dry season at the beginning of the year, which makes the state particularly vulnerable to the fires in this period. “The data for the first quarter of 2025 reflect this climatic seasonality, with Roraima emerging as the main fire focus in the country,” he explains.

The figures were released on Wednesday (16) and are from Monitor of Fire, a tool of MapBiomas that uses satellite images to map scars of fire across the country.

“The occurrence of the rainy period contributes to this decrease in the fires. However, the Cerrado stood out with the largest burned area in the first quarter compared to recent years, which reinforces the need for specific strategies for prevention and firefighting of each biome,” warns Mapbiomas Fogo researcher Vera Arruda.

Biomes

Between January and March 2025, the Cerrado had an increase of 12% compared to the same period of the previous year, There were 91.7 thousand hectares burned, being 106% above the historical average since 2019.

They also grew in an area hit by fire the Atlantic Forest and the Pampa. Compared to 2024, the burned areas increased by 7% and 1.4%, respectively. While the Atlantic Forest had 18,800 hectares affected, the Pampa had 6,600 hectares burned.

The Amazon, despite having registered a 72% drop in the burned area compared to the first three months of 2024, was the biome most affected in the same period of 2025. There were 774 hectares burned, representing 78% of the national total.

“It is important to understand that the dry season of 2025, which is approaching, will probably still be strong, which may reverse this condition of reduction,” says the director of Science of Ipam and coordinator of Mapbiomas Fogo.

The Pantanal and the Caatinga also observed a reduction in their burned areas during the first three months of 2025. They had, respectively, 10.9 and 10 thousand hectares affected by fire, which represented reductions of 86% and 8% compared to the same period of 2024.

March

In the last month of the first quarter of this year, the fire reached 106,600 hectares of the country, equivalent to 10% of the total area burned in the months analyzed. Compared to March 2024, there were 674,900 hectares less burned, which represents a reduction of 86%.

Of the total in the month, the Amazon burned 55,100 hectares; the Cerrado, 37,800 hectares, the Caatinga 2,200 hectares, Atlantic Forest, 9,2 thousand hectares, the Pampa 1.5 thousand hectares and the Pantanal, 561 hectares.

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