The fire incurred significant financial damages to the farmlands of the region’s open plains that were planted with crops by local farmers.
Around ten firefighting teams have been racing against time to extinguish the fire before it spreads elsewhere in the area, Rudaw’s Andam Jabar reported from Harir. The blaze started at 10:50 am on Thursday and has been spreading ever since.
The Harir airfield, also known as the Bashur base, currently covers 5,700 dunams of land. The base has been a major airfield for US-led coalition forces since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and there have been reports of further expansions in recent years.
The area of the Harir plains is 100,376 dunams, and more than 5,000 families in the area make a living out of agriculture, according to the statistics of the agricultural directorate of the area.
