Although the cities and villages of Khuzestan Province are still grappling with the thick smoke rising from the wildfire in the Iraqi side of Hour-al Azim wetland, Iran has suspended its fire fighting operations after they proved ineffective in containing the blaze.
According to Adel Mola, a deputy at the provincial office of the Department of Environment, spraying water by choppers and water-dropping aircraft have not been helpful so far, so the efforts were abandoned.
“The only way to put out the flames is to open water toward the wetland from its feeders, the Tigris in Iraq and Karkheh in Iran,” he said in a talk to IRNA, calling on diplomatic bodies to pursue the matter.
Ground operations are impossible since the area contains live landmines remaining from the eight-year Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).
Some one million liters of water have so far been used for the purpose; nevertheless, the area of burnt land has reached nearly 28,000 hectares, Mola added.
The fire in Hour-al Azim started in early July. The operations initiated around two weeks later after the Iraqi government finally permitted the entrance of Iranian aircraft. It was put out and the teams left Iraqi lands in late July, but the flames were soon rekindled forcing officials to resume the efforts.
Iraq’s Inaction
DOE chief Isa Kalantari paid a visit to the site in person in early August and announced after his observation from a helicopter that water spraying would not help control the blaze and cooperation on the part of Iraq was essential.
He regretted that the Iraqi government had not taken the smallest step in addressing the problem and all extinguishing equipment had been provided by Iran.
“When I talked to the Iraqi minister, he did not even know of the disaster and said he needed to consult with his deputy; this shows how unimportant the wetland and the present conditions are to them,” he said.
“Besides, the conflagration does not cause trouble for the Iraqis, and the Iranian regions are affected by its side effects.”
Reportedly, 2,000 hectares of the Iranian parts of the wetland have been scorched by the constantly recurring fire.
Apart from that, the choking fumes have been blown toward urban and rural areas affecting up to six counties of Khuzestan at times.
The provincial health authority has announced that 150 people have so far been referred to medical centers for problems resulting from the smoke. Hour-al Azim has not received any water from its feeders this summer. The whole Iraqi side and large portions of the Iranian part are dry.
Suspicious Circumstances
Kalantari has frequently talked of the possibility of the incident to be intentional.
“The fires seem to be deliberately ignited; even if not, they are unusual,” he has said.
The fact that the fire keeps restarting in a particular zone close to the Iranian border raises the possibility of some intention behind the event, he added.
The supposition is also supported by the Iraqi officials’ delay in permitting the entrance of Iranian extinguishing aircraft which took around two weeks, according to Kalantari.
Elaborating on the reason behind the possible intention, the DOE chief said speculations link it to the Iraqis’ displeasure with the disconnection of their electricity supply. This is while the Energy Ministry has denied the complete cut-off of electricity for Iraq maintaining that only the same summertime restrictions in Iran were enforced for them.
