More than twenty-one days have passed since the fire began in the Elit forest in northern Iran. Local sources report an extremely widespread blaze. Local residents have been trying for days to contain the fire with very limited resources.
The reality is that over the past six decades, more than half of the Hyrcanian forests have been destroyed for various reasons, and the recent fires are yet another recurring point on a long map of devastation. The Hyrcanian forests stretch along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and are among the world’s oldest broadleaf forests.
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One local resident told reporters: “On the third day of the fire, the teams present were told that a helicopter was needed, but in response they said you are trying to cause public anxiety and are exaggerating the issue.”
This shows that Iran’s regime has responded with complete indifference to these fires and lacks even the most basic equipment.
Amid the ongoing widespread forest fires across Iran, reports indicate that the Dizmār forests in Jolfa County, located in East Azerbaijan Province near Iran’s northwest border, have been burning for three days.
Iranian media reported on Sunday, November 23, that a severe fire in the protected Dizmār area of Jolfa County—near Ali-Abad-Bolaghi and the village of Namnaq—began on the evening of November 21 and has still not been extinguished.
Mohammad-Hossein Hassanzadeh, director-general of the Environmental Protection Office of East Azerbaijan Province, said that three valleys in the area are burning simultaneously and that strong winds have made firefighting efforts extremely difficult.
He added that a helicopter has been requested from the Environmental Protection Organization, but it is still unclear when the equipment will be dispatched to the area.
Hassanzadeh continued: “The area is rugged and consists of deep valleys, and transporting equipment there is impossible. Therefore, crews are forced to extinguish the fire using manual tools. Unfortunately, the wind is strong, and if this weather condition continues, it will not be good.”
Majid Farshi, director-general of crisis management for East Azerbaijan Province, told the state-run ISNA news agency on November 23 that the fire in the rangelands and forests of Namnaq village in Jolfa County is ongoing.
This comes while the Hyrcanian forests in the north of the country are also still burning after twenty-one days.
Despite repeated promises from government officials regarding the dispatch of assistance and equipment, images circulating on social media show citizens still risking their lives using simple, personal tools to contain the forest fires in the Elit region.
Experts believe that the continuation of this fire could inflict irreversible damage on one of Iran’s most important natural reserves. Meanwhile, the government’s inability to contain the fire has sparked a wave of public dissatisfaction and criticism.
In recent days, social media users have criticized the incompetence of officials, the regime’s chronic disregard for the environment, and the lack of accountability.
The Elit forests fall under the jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Office of Mazandaran–Nowshahr, an area with more than 660,000 hectares of forest, rangeland, and coastline, covering 28% of Mazandaran Province.
The Chalus highlands near the village of Elit are among the most sensitive parts of the Hyrcanian forests, which—being among the oldest forests in the world—are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The simultaneous spread of fires in the Hyrcanian and Dizmār forests has once again exposed Iran’s regime’s weak crisis management and lack of specialized equipment for protecting the country’s natural resources.
Environmental activists warn that if adequate resources and effective equipment are not provided promptly, the destruction of Iran’s forests will accelerate. The nation’s natural assets are burning more each day, and there is still no sign of fully containing these fires.
