Iraq recorded over 32,400 fire incidents in 2022

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq recorded more than 32,400 fire incidents last year, with the largest number taking place in Baghdad, according to a statement from the General Directorate of Civil Defense.

The data is limited to provinces under the control of the Iraqi federal government; it excludes the Kurdistan Region.

The two leading causes of the fires were due to voltage fluctuations and defective wires in residential and commercial areas.

The lack of safety measures at residential and commercial buildings is frequently blamed for fire breakouts, some of which have resulted in numerous casualties.

In April and July of 2021, two infernos at COVID-19 isolation wards in Baghdad and Nasiriyah killed a total of 174 people and injured 210.

After the April inferno that claimed the lives of 139 Iraqis, several public officials resigned including the then-Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi, Ibn al-Khatib hospital personnel, and local firefighters.  

Decades of improper management, sanctions, and corruption have riddled Iraq’s healthcare system, which previously was regarded as one of the best in the region.  

“Iraq’s hospital fires were not flukes; corruption makes such incidents inevitable,” a recent paper by the German political foundation of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) argued in December 2021.