Fires in Brazil wetlands surge to record start in 2024

Smoke from a fire rises into the air in the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, in Corumba, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil, June 10, 2024. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

CORUMBA, Brazil (Reuters) - As Jose Cleiton and Brandao Amilton ride their horses into the vastness of the Pantanal grassy wetlands of Brazil, a wall of smoke towers from the horizon far into the sky above.

The worst of the dry season is still far off, but already these Brazilian wetlands are so dry that wildfires are surging.