Scorched terrain and burned vegetation after a wildfire crossed from Iran into the border areas of Halabja governorate, destroying forests and natural vegetation over three days.
Cross-border wildfire burns for a third day in Halabja
HALABJA — A wildfire that crossed into Iraq from Iran has burned forests, orchards and natural vegetation near villages in Halabja governorate for a third day, despite repeated efforts by civil defense crews and volunteers to contain it.
The fire began on the morning of July 14 near Griyana village. Civil defense announced that evening that it had been brought under control, but it flared again the following day and has not been fully extinguished. It has since spread across forests and mountainous terrain near the border villages of Griyana, Daratfi and Hawara Kon, where the terrain has complicated firefighting.
Zanyar Omar, spokesperson for Halabja Civil Defense, told 964media that crews had contained the blaze several times without putting it out. “So far we have controlled the fire three times, but because the geography of the area is very difficult, after the trees burn, embers fall downhill and the fire reignites,” Omar said.
He said preliminary estimates put the damage at about 1,000 dunams of forest and natural vegetation, roughly 250 hectares, and that three civil defense personnel suffered minor injuries.
Omar said the cause had not been determined. “We do not know the cause,” he said. “We only know that the fire crossed into the Kurdistan Region from the border with eastern Kurdistan,” using a term for the Kurdish areas of Iran.