The forest fires in the Hyrcanian forests have entered their third week.
Government statistics indicate that since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, 50% of the Hyrcanian forests, which are estimated to be between 40 to 60 million years old, have been destroyed.
The latest videos and images obtained by Independent Persian show that contrary to the claims of state media and government officials, the intensity of the forest fires in the Hyrcanian forests in the area of Marzanabad, a district of Chalous in Mazandaran province, has not only not decreased since the early hours of Friday, November 20th, but has also spread to new areas.
This fire, which started on October 31st, has now entered its third week. Despite the round-the-clock efforts of local residents, mountaineers, and environmentalists, local and provincial officials arrived at the scene two weeks after the incident.
According to local rescuers, after several unsuccessful attempts, two dispatched helicopters and only one Ilyushin water bomber on Friday morning dropped about 80 tons of water twice over parts of the forest. However, due to the mountainous nature of the area and the inability of the plane to get close to the scene of the incident, these water drops have not had much effect in extinguishing the fire.