Environment

Woman, mother and indigenous: the brigadier who fights fire in the Amazon

Rio de Janeiro Aug 5 (EFE).- Francisca Eloide Lima Chaves is the leader of the Alter do Chao brigade, which fights fire in the Amazon.FOOTAGE AND SOUNDBITES OF BRIGADIER FRANCISCA ELOIDE LIMA CHAVES:"I am a rescuer, I was trained with the Red Cross, I'm a nurse specialised in emergency care, I'm a firefighter and I'm a brigadier.""When I arrived the team was just been created and due to my experience in fires, they invited me to take part in the brigade. After that, we have trained 21 brigadiers. Less than 15 days after the training, that fire in the savannah occurred.""The experience of that fire was completely new from the previous ones I had lived. We are in the Amazon and that makes an enormous difference. Fighting a fire in the Amazon is very different and that was a huge one.""We didn't have anything. We would wear jeans and avoid T-shirts that could be flammable, and we got a cotton blanket. Since we didn't have a fire mask, we would use a shirt to cover our faces, work boots... and we would feel important.""The brigade has brought us a lot of pride but also a great concern. Now we only work from our own initiative or under request to protect ourselves from all what is happening. We don't know who is responsible for the fires, we don't know the real danger we could put ourselves into. It will be better like this because what we did before we did it from our hearts and for love, but it did finish as it did."