Fire destroys most of Brazilian research base in Antarctica

The Brazilian research base in Antarctica, (“Estação Comandante Ferra”), where Brazil has been since 1984, caught fire this weekend. Two Brazilian military personnel, sergeant Roberto Lopes dos Santos, and a non-commissioned officer, Carlos Alberto Vieira Feigueiredo, died in the blaze. Another sargeant, Marcilio Dias, was injured but not seriously.

The fire, which began late Saturday night, reportedly destroyed the main building on the base where living quarters and some laboratories were located. All work at Estação Comandante Ferraz has been halted and most of the personnel evacuated (there was a total of around 60 people on the base went it caught fire). An investigation into the causes of the fire will begin immediately.

The government has announced that it will not abandon the Brazilian Antarctic Program (“Proantar”). According to the minister of Science and Technology, Marco Antonio Raupp, research will continue using the ship (“navio polar”), Almirante Maximiano, as a base until Comandante Ferraz is rebuilt.

Some 45 members of the research teams and support personnel were flown out to Punta Arenas in Chile and then flown back to Brazil where they arrived late Sunday night.

One of the researchers, Terezinha Absher, of the Federal University of Paraná (“Universidade Federal do Paraná – UFPR”), told Agência Brasil that she had worked in Antarctica for a few months every year for the past 20 years and that seeing the research base go up in flames was like having her home burned down. “It was really scary seeing that. I mean, it was like my own house was on fire. I lost everything. All my research material and personnel belongings.”

Fernanda Siviero, a biologist, explained that after the fire alarm went off they all hurried to a safe place following prearranged procedures. All were  expecting that things would quickly return to normal and they would soon go back to their quarters. “We thought it was just a small fright and that it would be over. We did not expect it to get out of control. We were shocked when the fire kept getting bigger and bigger. We thought it was going be controlled quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.”

Caio Cipro, a researcher from the University of São Paulo, lamented the loss of his research samples. “The samples are irreplaceable. We had been collecting water samples since December. Everything was lost in the fire.” 

Everyone who talked to Agência Brasil also mentioned their sorrow because of the loss of lives (the first time that has happened at the Brazilian base).