ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A fire has destroyed 46 dunams of farmland and nearly 1,000 olive, grape, and pomegranate trees in Shorija village in western Erbil’s Mala Qara sub-district on Saturday, wiping out nearly two decades of labor by a local farmer.
Burhan Muhammad, 60, said he had been cultivating the land and orchard since 2008 for himself and his sons. The fire reduced much of the property to ashes within hours.
"We went to help the people and extinguished that fire," he told Rudaw's Dilniya Rehman. "I saw that a fire had started. We could not control it before it reached the trees," said Muhammad, who spent the entire morning helping extinguish another fire in the area before returning home.
The blaze was one of three fires reported in Shoija village on the same day. Farmers accused local authorities of failing to respond quickly and criticized what they described as “negligence by government institutions.”
"The negligence came from all government institutions," Muhammad said, adding that residents held complaints against officials in the Mala Qara and Dibaga sub-district administrations as well as the local agriculture department.
Local officials later said the delay in the dispatch of firefighters was caused by another major fire near the Qushtapa area where emergency crews were already deployed.
Shakhawan Saeed, spokesperson for Erbil Civil Defense told Rudaw, "We were on our way, and a vehicle was supposed to go there to extinguish the fire, but it unfortunately broke down," he said. “By the time a team was sent, it was too late."
Saeed added that Civil Defense teams remain in regular contact with farmers, adding that 15 firefighting units have been dispatched across several areas prone to brush fire this year alone.
Erbil’s Civil Defense claimed that their investigations found recent fires to be caused by farmers burning dry brush and crop residue in fields despite repeated warnings from authorities.
Officials warned against burning dry vegetation and other ‘flash fuels’ as high temperatures and dry conditions continue to exacerbate the risk of wildfires across the Kurdistan Region.
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