TEHRAN - Raging wildfires burnt forests in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad three times over the last week.

The Mehr news agency reported on Friday that a wildfire destroyed some parts of the protected areas of Deel Mountain near the city of Gachsaran at the start of the last week.

Second fire broke out in the Sepidar areas in the middle of the week.

The last one was sparked in the Rahmali region on Thursday morning. It was brought under control immediately but it restarted in the afternoon as the wind blew faster.

The fire was eventually put out Thursday night in a joint cooperation involving the local Forest Range and Watershed Management Organization, local people and Islamic Revolution Guard Corps forces.

Saeed Nazari, the head of Forest Range and Watershed Management Organization, said that 80 people helped stop the fire. The fire damaged an area of 50 hectares, he added.

Nazari said that the cause of the fire in Rahmali is under investigation, although a shepherd will soon be arrested in connection with the second fire in the Sepidar area.

Rahmali forests, located 35 kilometers to Yasuj, the capital of the province, have been set on fire many a time since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year which started on March 21, 2015.

Generally speaking, shepherds and tourists are among the sources of fire ignition in jungles not to mention the spread of fire from agricultural lands to forests.

Since the beginning of the year, 50 fire incidents have overall destroyed over 550 hectares of the province’s forests, he concluded.
PT/MJG/P