ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Erbil recorded at least 560 fire incidents in the first half of 2025, the spokesperson of the province’s civil defense units told The New Region on Wednesday.

“Since the beginning of the year, we have recorded 563 fire incidents in Erbil and surrounding areas,” Shakhawan Saeed told The New Region. “The number on June 4, 2024, was 748 incidents, indicating a decrease in the number of fire incidents compared to last year.”

The Kurdistan Region over the past few years has seen numerous and at times disastrous fire incidents.

In May, fire engulfed around 1,000 dunams of agricultural land south of Erbil province.

In 2024, the civil defense units recorded a total of 2,206 fire incidents in Erbil alone.

While the number of fire incidents in Erbil has decreased, in some other parts of the Kurdistan Region, the trend is the opposite.

Halabja province recorded 61 fire incidents in May alone, many in agricultural fields, marking an increase compared to the 12 cases recorded in May 2024.

“This year, we recorded 84 fire cases, 61 of them in May,” a spokesperson of Halabja’s civil defense told The New Region.

In April, a fire in Sulaimani's local bazaar in Dara Sutawaka engulfed over 100 shops.