The municipality of São José dos Campos has been recurrently affected by fires of peat deposits in its subsoil. These fires are in large part caused by land occupation that has drained over the years old areas of flooding in the Paraíba do Sul River, characteristic of peat regions. The combustion of organic material releases a dense smoke with an unpleasant odor, which causes respiratory problems for nearby residents. Since 1980, when the region of Vale do Paraíba in the State of São Paulo had a study on the use of it peat as fossil fuel conducted (Oliveira 1983, Aboarrage and Oliveira 1981), the municipality of São José dos Campos has had several outbreaks of fires that have required assistance to the population by the Municipal Health Department and the Fire Department.
This research project aims to collect the data and information needed to define the parameters and actions with the greatest impact for the control and mitigation of fires in peat bogs.
Participants
USP – Polytechnic School – Mechanical Engineering Department – Thermal and Environmental Engineering Laboratory (Prof. Dr. Guenther C. Krieger Filho – Project Coordinator and Dr. Paulo Roberto Bufacchi Mendes – Associate Researcher)
National Institute for Space Research (INPE) – Associated Combustion and Propulsion Laboratory (LCP) – Cachoeira Paulista (Prof. Dr. Fernando de Souza Costa – Associate Researcher, Dr. Turíbio Gomes Soares Neto – Associate Researcher, Dr. Ana Maura Araújo Rocha – Postdoctoral Researcher, Dr. Rodrigo Matos – Associate Researcher and Natália Pelegrine Ueda – Master’s Student)
National Institute for Space Research (INPE) – Earth System Science Center (CCST) – São José dos Campos (Dr. Maria Cristina Forti – Associate Researcher, Dr. Laura de Simone Borba – Associate Researcher, Dr. Plínio Carlos Alvalá – Researcher Associate, Dr. Manoel Cardoso – Associate Researcher and Kelly Ribeiro – PhD student)
The team had the support of the City Hall of São José dos Campos through the Secretariat for the Environment (SEMEA).