Forest Fires Expanding Due to Officials Neglect
Published by Ali on June 4, 2020
International Liberty Association: Forests and natural resources in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed province (southwest Iran) has been targeted by fire that is destroying trees and wildlife, killing innocent animals. Reports indicate a major fire continues in the Chitgar forests located west of the Iranian capital Tehran and many trees have been burned. Locals called the fire department asking for help but reported no such measures for many hours.
Mohammad Movahedi, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), acknowledged on Sunday, 31 May, that forest fires are expanding in Iran’s jungles and failing to address this crisis. “Once again, as seen in the past several years, we are witnessing how forests and natural resources in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed province (southwest Iran) has been targeted by fires and irrecoverable damages have been inflicted to our national treasures. Locals with their bare hands are braving all odds to confront the fires that are destroying trees and wildlife, killing innocent animals in the Khaeiz mountains. It is necessary for certain [officials] to wake up and take some action,” he said.
Also it has been reported that: “Lands owned by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the city of Shahriar (located southwest of Tehran) are burning.”
It is worth mentioning that widespread fires have been and continues to destroy protected areas in Iran’s Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed province for nearly a week now. Locals from the city of Behbahan are desperately attempting to put out the fires as authorities are literally refusing to take any meaningful action. This warm climate environment has a variety of greens and wildlife and has been designated as a national protected area since 1998.
“The Khaeiz area fire in Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed province has been contained. However, the fire heading towards the city of Behbahan continues to rage,” said the head of the Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed province Environmental Office on Monday, 1 June.
On Sunday, smoke from the fires covered areas of the Ahvaz-Shush road in southwest Iran and led to a horrifying series of road accidents, leaving four people injured.
During the past few days, a large portion of Iran’s jungles and natural resources alongside the Zagros mountain range in the provinces of Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmed, Khuzestan, Fars, Ilam, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and Bushehr have been targeted in these fires. Due to the lack of firefighting equipment even in protected areas, these fires are easily spreading, and environmental activists have time and again criticized the regime officials’ negligence.
ILA: Prior to this the Forest Organization’s Protection Unit chief said that for the past two years the Defense Ministry has not been providing fire fighting helicopters to this organization, citing budget shortages.
