ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The top of an unfinished residential build in western Erbil caught fire late Thursday without causing casualties.
The blaze took place near Erbil’s iconic Sami Abdulrahman Park on 40-metre road.
The fire was spreading to other storeys of the building at the time of reporting.
A Rudaw reporter on the ground said no casualties had been reported in the incident.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
A massive blaze, which broke out at an asphalt storage facility in Erbil province late Wednesday, was brought under control after raging for around 20 hours. The incident took place on Erbil-Gwer road where several oil refineries are also present.
Shakhawan Saeed, spokesperson for the civil defense directorate, said 150 firefighters participated in putting out the blaze, adding that 14 workers were injured and four fire trucks were burned but there were no casualties.
Fires are a perennial concern in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region where safety standards are often lacking. They are especially frequent in the summertime, with the scorching summer heat increasing risks of fires breaking out.
Safety standards are also often ignored in the country, and buildings lack adequate fire extinguishers and emergency facilities such as evacuation routes.
A total of 7,546 fire incidents were recorded across the Kurdistan Region in 2022, according to data from the Region’s Police Directorate.
