Brazil deploys army to put out Amazon fires

Brazil has sent its army to put out fires in the country's Amazon rainforest.

It comes as European leaders threaten to abandon trade deals with South America over the environmental crisis.

Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has promised to do more to help combat the blazes.

He said the country is mobilizing the army to tackle the blazes, which have sky-rocketed in number by more than 80 per cent this year.

Bolsonaro also said he will stop illegal deforestation in the Amazon, which environmentalists say is the cause of fires.

However the president said the growing number of fires is down to drier than usual weather.

The country's Amazon rainforest is responsible for producing 20 per cent of the earth’s oxygen.