Manaus Halts School Sessions as Wildfire Smoke Blankets City During Intense El Niño

On Friday, authorities instructed all public schools in Manaus—the biggest city in Brazil’s Amazon basin—to stay shut after a thick blanket of smoke from hundreds of wildfires rolled into the metropolis, leading health officials to recommend avoiding outdoor activities.

The lingering smoke plume, persisting for several days, represents the newest effect of a strengthening El Niño cycle that has produced abnormally dry weather throughout the Amazon. Satellite photos reveal a steep increase in fires this month, with flames breaking out in both forested and cleared lands, pushing air quality in the capital into hazardous territory.

Local health authorities cautioned that the particulate pollution in the haze may aggravate respiratory ailments, especially among children, seniors and individuals with existing conditions. Because schools were classified as high‑risk settings, the municipal education department halted classes until the air quality gets better.

While wildfires in the Amazon are a familiar occurrence, their occurrence and magnitude typically spike during El Niño years, when lower rainfall and hotter temperatures turn the landscape into a tinderbox. Comparable surges were documented in 2015 and 2019, each prompting extensive school closures and public‑health warnings across the area.

City officials have installed monitoring devices to measure pollutant levels and are working with state and federal bodies to combat the fires. Although firefighting assets have been dispatched, officials admit that the sheer volume of ignition points and the remote locations of many blazes hinder suppression efforts.

Experts note that the present circumstances highlight the wider difficulty of reconciling economic development, land‑use changes and climate variability in the Amazon. With the El Niño episode ongoing, residents should anticipate ongoing air‑quality warnings, and officials have warned that additional school interruptions could occur if conditions worsen.