Brazil's Amazon sees most wildfires in 20 yrs

RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian Amazon recorded 13,489 wildfires in the first half of the year, the worst figure in 20 years, satellite data revealed on Monday.

The total was up more than 61 percent compared with the corresponding period last year, an increase that experts say is the result of a historic drought that struck the world's largest tropical rainforest last year.

Since Brazil's National Institute for Space Research began compiling records in 1998, only two other years experienced more wildfires from January through June: 2003 (17,143) and 2004(17,340).