There are some things that cannot be expressed adequately in words: the sound of a home reduced to ashes, the sight of families fleeing in a rush, or the scent of a habitat of beautiful forest animals turned into blackened wasteland. That is the horror of witnessing the Amazon being consumed by wildfires.

Yet I cannot imagine ever turning my back on it and letting it burn. I am a volunteer forest firefighter, in the Brigada de Alter do Chão, in operation for six years now in the state of Pará, Borari territory. My experience with climate change is intense, both in suffering its consequences and in fighting its causes. We are on the front lines of combating forest fires in our community and help other communities establish groups like ours to provide the first response for when wildfires occur.

To defend this rainforest – the soul of our country and a key to our planet’s survival – we volunteer to fight wildfires that put our lives at risk. We are joining the “polluters pay pact” to demand governments find the courage to impose significant taxes on the oil and gas corporations that literally fan the flames. 

The era of climate crisis is overlapping an era of inflation, budget cuts and chronic underfunding of public services. Although fires are getting worse, we are seeing cuts in pay and in the size of firefighting forces even in rich countries in the EU, the UK, and in the US. There many firefighters accumulate more than a thousand hours of overtime a year (a situation made even worse with the current administration). This puts remaining frontline workers at a higher risk of accidents and deaths. 

Fossil Fuels Are Fueling the Flames

Oil and gas companies should pay more for climate change because they are the primary cause of greenhouse gas emissions that heat the planet and trigger chain reactions such as polar ice melting, ocean acidification, and forest destruction.

Last year there were over half a million fire outbreaks across South American countries, on a scale and at a rate that the forest cannot simply regrow. This number – which comes despite the celebrated efforts in Brazil to decrease deforestation by 30% – is the result of persistent and abnormal drought in 2024, fuelled by emissions of the fossil fuel industry and agribusiness that uses illegal fire to renew pastures. 

As tragic as it is, it should not come as a shock. Already three years ago, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that the number of wildfires will rise by 50% by the end of the century. 

Destruction Driven by Agribusiness and Mining

There are local drivers, like soy and cattle agribusiness in which the federal government of Brazil invested R$ 508.59 billion last year, alongside illegal mining and plans for oil exploration at the seashore of the Amazon.

Added to these tremendous challenges is the global fossil fuel industry. The world’s largest oil and gas corporations are making money off the main products that are heating the planet. Ordinary people, as well as innocent wildlife, are paying the price: in air pollution, killer drought, floods, and fires. According to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, over half of infectious diseases are made worse by climate change.

We all pay for the climate crisis with public funds and private donations that serve to support the work of underpaid and volunteer firefighter groups like mine. Such resources could have been invested in other social needs had oil and gas companies not have denied and derailed actions on climate change for decades.

The UN calls for international safety and health standards of firefighters, recognising the vulnerabilities of the network of first responders. Indeed, firefighters are subject to physical, chemical, ergonomic, biologic, radiologic and mental health hazards. That includes heart disease from exposure to a range of toxic chemicals, particulate matter, and extreme heat and a 300% elevated chance of getting cancer. Those who have battled the flames in LA’s fires are just found to have elevated levels of lead and mercury in their blood.

What We Need: Protection, Not Just Equipment

Volunteer brigades like ours need extinguishers, blowers, boots and protective masks. Even more importantly, we need planet heating emissions to end, so fires don’t become even worse. Words may fail to convey the horror of feeling the Amazon burn, but they should clearly deliver our call for justice.

As a firefighter, I’m proud to support people when they need it the most. It is time for governments to do the same and hold the oil and gas corporations who are fuelling the burning of our forests accountable. They must be made to pay.

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This story was originally posted by Context.

Daniel Gutierrez Govino is a photographer and volunteer firefighter with the Brigada de Alter, based in the state of Pará, Brazil.

Find his work here. Follow him on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Guest authors work with Greenpeace International to share their personal experiences and perspectives and are responsible for their own content.