Concerns are being raised internationally about thousands of fire incidents in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.

Facing international criticism over the Amazon forest fire, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has acknowledged that farmers may have deliberately set fire to these dense forests.

However, he said that foreign forces should refrain from interfering in this matter.

French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had expressed concern over the fire incidents on Twitter.

It is being said that for the first time in the last decade in the Amazon forests, there has been such a huge fire. The country's northern states of Roraima, Accre, Rondônia and Amazonas are badly affected by this fire.

It is claimed that the jungle is being cut every minute equal to a football field. The incidence of deforestation has increased rapidly since Jair Bolsonaro took over as the new President of Brazil in January.

The Earth gets 20 percent oxygen from the Brazilian rainforests.

However, some of the photos of the fire being shared on social media with the hashtag #PrayforAmazonas are decades old or not even from Brazil.

So what is really happening there and how dangerous are these incidents of fire, let's have a look.

Statistics from the Brazilian Space Agency show that there have been record fire incidents this year in the Amazon rain forest.

The National Institute for Space Research (NISR) has shown in its satellite data that there has been an 85 percent increase in fire incidents between 2018.

According to government figures, there were 75,000 fire incidents in the Brazilian forests in the first eight months of this year. This is the record after 2013. There were a total of 39,759 fire incidents in the year 2018.

Fire incidents are common in the Brazilian forests during the dry season between July and October. There is a fire here due to natural reasons but at the same time farmers and wood cutters also make fire.

Environmental activists say there has been an increase in forest clearing activities due to anti-environmental statements by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Jair Bolsonaro, a long-time skeptic of the environment, has accused non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of setting fire on the forests themselves to discredit his government.

He later said that the government did not have enough resources to control the fire.

The maximum impact of fire incidents has been in the northern areas.

The incidence of fire increased by 141% in Roraima, 138% in Accre, 115% in Rondônia, and 81% in Amazonas. Whereas in the south, the incidence of fire in the Moto Grosso doo Sul has increased by 114%.

Amazonas is the largest state in Brazil, where a state of emergency has been declared.

A huge plume of smoke from the fire has spread throughout the Amazon and is growing even further.

According to the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), the smoke is spreading to the Atlantic Coast. Even 2000 miles away the sky of São Paulo is filled with smoke.

The fire is producing carbon dioxide on a large scale, and according to CAMS, this year has produced 228 megatons of carbon dioxide, the highest since 2010.

Apart from this, carbon mono oxide gas is also being produced, which is produced by burning of wood in the absence of oxygen.

A very poisonous carbon mono oxide is seen in the CAMS map going beyond the coastal areas of South America.

The Amazon Basin, home to 3 million species of flora and fauna and 1 million indigenous people, plays an important role in controlling climate change, as its forests absorb millions of tons of carbon emissions each year.

But when trees are cut or burned, the carbon stored in them goes into the atmosphere and the carbon absorption capacity of the rainforest also goes away.

Incidents of fire have increased this year in other countries of the Amazon basin. Venezuela is at number two with 2600 fire incidents, while Bolivia is at number three with 17000 fire incidents.

Bolivia's government has hired fire extinguishers in the eastern part of the country. The fire has so far spread over six square kilometers.

Additional relief and rescue workers have been dispatched to the area and sanctuaries are being built for the animals escaping from the fire.

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