Fire erupts in Kurdistan Region displacement camp

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Local authorities announced that a fire broke out late on Monday night in a displacement camp on the outskirts of the Kurdistan Region's province of Erbil.

According to an Erbil civil defense team, the incident occurred at the Harsham 1 camp, with the blaze consuming at least three caravans being used by families as residences.

They reported only one casualty sustained as one male attempted to extinguish the fire. His condition is reportedly stable after being transferred to a hospital to receive respiration treatment.

This is not the first such incident of fire spreading in the facility, especially in the cold season when residents depend on kerosine heaters for heat.

Erbil Civil Defense Spokesperson Major Sarkawt Karash told Kurdistan 24 that firefighters succeeded in putting out the fire relatively quickly.

“Four teams participated in extinguishing the fire, preventing it from spreading quickly among the rest of the camps and the caravans,” he said.

Local Erbil officials helped to find temporary shelter for the families whose homes have been burned in cooperation with the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF).

Since the 2014 rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Kurdistan Region has provided shelter to nearly 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.

Editing by John J. Catherine