Colonel Majid Zakariaei said that authorities received two wildfire reports from the Elit forest area in Marzanabad during November. The first fire, reported on 10 November, took four days to fully extinguish. The second blaze, reported on 24 November, proved far more difficult to control due to severe environmental conditions.
According to Zakariaei, extremely steep slopes of over 80 percent, prolonged drought, warm winds, humidity below 30 percent, accumulated dry leaf litter—sometimes up to one meter deep—fallen dead trees, and limited access routes for personnel and equipment all contributed to the challenge.
He estimated the burned area at under 10 hectares. More than 520 personnel across 52 specialized teams were deployed, including forest protection units, local volunteers, mountaineers, environmental rangers from the protected area, Basij and IRGC forces, Red Crescent rescuers, military teams, local municipalities, and firefighting units.
Aerial suppression efforts also played a major role, he added.