Fire erupts at Yezidi camp in Duhok province 

Friday’s fire did not cause any deaths or injuries but did destroy two large tents, residents of the Bajid Kandala told Kurdistan 24. 
One of the burnt tents from Friday morning’s fire in Duhok’s Bajid Kandala Camp, Apr. 15, 2022 (Photo: Submitted to Kurdistan 24)
One of the burnt tents from Friday morning’s fire in Duhok’s Bajid Kandala Camp, Apr. 15, 2022 (Photo: Submitted to Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A camp housing mainly displaced Yezidis from Sinjar in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province caught fire early Friday, destroying two large tents, residents told Kurdistan 24. 

The fire at Bajid Kandala in the Zakho Independent Administration followed Wednesday’s blaze in Duhok’s Chamishku Camp, which killed a 26-year-old Yezidi man and injured two more. 

Friday’s fire did not cause any deaths or injuries but did destroy two large tents, residents of the Bajid Kandala told Kurdistan 24.

“Totally & easily avoidable IF…we were let turn these camps into formal settlements with concrete housing,” Jean-Nicolas Beuze, the United Nations’ refugee agency representative in Iraq, tweeted on Thursday after the Chamishku fire. 

Such fires are usually caused by electrical short-circuiting or kerosine heaters accidentally burning tents. Some are caused by unattended children playing with matches and lighters. Many of the tents in these camps are also highly flammable. 

Over the past seven years, more than ten displaced persons have been killed by fires in these camps and more than 20 injured, according to figures compiled by Kurdistan 24. Nearly 500 tents burned down over the past five years. 

Duhok province hosts nearly 26,000 displaced families from Sinjar in at least 15 camps. These families resettled in these camps after ISIS militants infamously invaded Sinjar in 2014 and subjected its population to a vicious campaign of genocide. 

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), in partnership with international aid groups, has been assisting the vulnerable minority population since 2014. 

The Iraqi government shut down all the IDP camps to force their populations to return to their areas. The IDPs say this is difficult since those areas still haven’t been reconstructed and remain unsafe to resettle. 

Nearly 400 Yezidi families who had previously returned to the Sinjar region are now trying to return to the camps in Duhok since Sinjar remains in ruins and lacks essential services.

Additional reporting by Mahir Shingali