Wildfire in Choman mountains extinguished after 15 hours

CHOMAN — A wildfire that raged for more than 15 hours in the Hasari Sakran mountains of Erbil’s Soran administration was extinguished by Saturday morning, local officials and responders said, after consuming a large swath of natural forest and vegetation.

The fire broke out Friday in the mountainous region near the Iranian border and was eventually brought under control through the combined efforts of civil defense teams and local residents.

Karokh Ali, an environmental activist from the Balakayati area who took part in the firefighting effort, told 964media that the blaze had “devastated the local environment and burned a large land area.”

A Soran Civil Defense officer said multiple old-growth trees were lost in the fire. “With the help of local people, we were able to extinguish the fire,” the officer said.

Authorities said the blaze was sparked by a landmine detonation, believed to have been triggered by a wild boar. The officer added that remaining mines in the area — remnants of the Iran-Iraq war — made it difficult for responders to reach some fire-affected zones.