The year 2024 has been marked by an intensification of fires and wildfires in Brazilian biomes, particularly in the Amazon, the Cerrado, and the Pantanal. The use of fire, whether accidental or intentional, continues to be one of the main factors of environmental degradation, contributing to the loss of biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, changes to the natural landscape, and a decrease in air quality due to smoke generation (Barlow et al. 2020, Lapola et al. 2023, Tomas et al. 2021, Bonilla et al. 2023, Fuzessy et al. 2024). Furthermore, the impact of fire varies significantly among different land tenure categories, reflecting complex socioeconomic and territorial dynamics, such as certain agricultural practices, pressure for agricultural frontier expansion, land regularization, and the management of conservation units and indigenous lands.
Understanding where and how fire occurs is essential for developing effective public policies for prevention, mitigation, and control. The particular context of each biome in Brazil, combined with regional climate variations, results in varied responses in fire occurrence, both in terms of frequency and intensity of fires (Brando et al. 2020). In the Amazon, for example, deforestation and the expansion of agriculture, particularly the use of fire in pasture management, drive a cycle of burning, resulting in widespread economic impacts and challenging the implementation of more sustainable practices in the region (Ribeiro et al. 2024, Silva et al. 2020). In the Cerrado and Pantanal, the use of fire is often linked to the management of pastures, including natural ones, while the Caatinga, Atlantic Forest, and Pampa suffer from fires of accidental origin or resulting from smal-
l-scale agricultural practices (Pivello et al. 2021). This diversity of situations requires a detailed and localized analysis to understand fire patterns and shed light on burning practices and the resulting wildfires, in order to implement specific and more effective fire control and management actions.
In this technical note, we present the burned area data from the Fire Monitor, an initiative of the MapBiomas network coordinated by IPAM (Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazon), stratified by the main land categories and by biome, with the aim of identifying differentiated patterns of fire occurrence throughout the time series from January to August, for the years 2019 to 2024. These analyses seek to highlight the areas most impacted by fire, providing strategic information that can support decision-making regarding environmental and territorial management. By indicating the most vulnerable locations, we hope to contribute to the development
of more effective policies for fire prevention and combat, ensuring the conservation of Brazilian biomes and the protection of their natural and social resources.