Manaus schools shut as Amazon wildfire smoke spreads

Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon, shut public schools on Friday as smoke from hundreds of wildfires blanketed the city during an intensifying El Nino event.

The city government said the closures were ordered “to protect the health, safety and well-being of students and education professionals.” No date has been set for schools to reopen.

Manaus is home to 2.3 million people. Public-sector worker Erlan de Santos told AFP on Thursday that smoke and heat were contributing to breathing problems and called the situation distressing.

The state of Amazonas recorded more than 3,700 fire hotspots in September, nearly four times as many as the previous year, according to satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. More than 749 fires were burning on Wednesday alone, leading to poor air quality in Manaus.

Temperatures in Manaus reached 40°C on Thursday, and authorities urged people to avoid exercising outdoors. The city had already spent several days under smoke last month.

Brazil's government has warned that one of the strongest El Nino events in decades will bring more rain and floods to the south, and drought and wildfires to the north.

El Nino is a natural climate variation that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, changing wind and rain patterns worldwide. This year's episode is projected to be the strongest on record, with a peak in December.

The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest and stores large amounts of carbon, giving it a crucial role in the fight against global warming.