Sanandaj: Chiako Yousefinejad, Second Environmental Activist, Dies from Severe Burns Caused by Abidar Mountain Wildfires

On Sunday, July 27, 2025, Chiako Yousefinejad, the second environmental activist from Sanandaj, died at “Kosar” Hospital in Sanandaj due to severe burn injuries sustained during the Abidar Mountain wildfires. He passed away after being hospitalized for three days in the intensive care unit.

Chiako Yousefinejad, a former coach, martial arts champion, and member of Iran’s national martial arts team, was the second environmental activist from Sanandaj to lose his life.

In the early hours of Friday, July 25, 2025, Hamid Moradi, another environmental activist and the director of the “Shene-ye Nozhin Kurdistan” Environmental Association, also died from severe burn injuries. His funeral was attended by thousands of Sanandaj residents, with crowds chanting “A martyr never dies” and holding a large ceremony at his gravesite.

During efforts to contain the wildfires on Thursday, July 24, 2025, on Abidar Mountain, five civil and environmental activists suffered burns and were transferred to the intensive care unit.

According to a source speaking to Kurdpa, at noon on Thursday, July 24, 2025, a large portion of Abidar Mountain’s foothills — including the area behind “Park-e Koodak” (Children’s Park) and the surroundings of Zagros Township and Hasanabad — caught fire. The blaze, which began at 1:30 PM, was eventually contained through the relentless efforts of Sanandaj’s civil and environmental activists. Government emergency teams were dispatched solely to transfer the injured from the mountain to hospitals, while the entire firefighting and containment operation was carried out by local residents and activists.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. Widespread wildfires in Kurdistan’s rangelands and forests have become a yearly phenomenon, but the lack of planning and shortage of equipment by government agencies has forced local residents and environmental activists to face these crises with minimal resources. This situation has already claimed the lives of dozens of activists and injures many more each year.

Despite state media claims that “five operational firefighting teams with full equipment” were present, local and informed sources confirmed that the firefighting and containment efforts were effectively led by community volunteers and environmental activists, once again highlighting the ineffectiveness of official agencies in responding to such crises and the crucial role of local people and activists.