HALABJA, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A fire in Halabja’s outskirts that started on Sunday afternoon has yet to be brought under control, with the blaze spreading toward neighboring villages amid efforts by civil defense forces and local volunteers to extinguish it.

The fire has since been controlled in Halabja’s Mordin village, where it started; the blaze, however, has spread to neighboring areas, threatening surrounding villages such as Sazan and Sarwazan, Shkar Azad, the head of Halabja’s fire department, told The New Region.

The blaze is now “spreading towards Sazan from the Kulimitkan village; our teams are currently focusing on containing the fire to make sure that it does not reach the orchards of Sazan,” said Azad, adding that though the fire spreading to the Shnrwe mountain would be problematic due to rough terrain, it is “unlikely” as of now, and they are optimistic that it will be brought under control before that.

The new areas have proven a challenge for the firefighting teams due to a greater density of vegetation.

The fire has killed at least two people as of the time of writing this article: Ary Mukhtar, a local volunteer who lost his life on Sunday combating the fire, and Mohammed Sheikh Haider, an officer of Halabja’s forest police forces who died a day later on Monday battling the blaze.

Halabja Governor Nukhsha Nasih told The New Region on Tuesday evening that “not much [of the fire] is left,” adding that “our teams now… are busy controlling it, god willing. We hope that it will be over tonight.”

Nasih said that Interior Minister Rebar Ahmad had told her over the phone that Prime Minister Masrour Barzani had issued a directive to provide the province with anything they need to combat the fire, adding that they had also received phone calls from many of the Kurdistan Region’s provinces and independent administrations who offered them assistance.

In addition to ground teams, aerial efforts have also been mobilized in order to assist with extinguishing the fire since Monday, according to the Halabja governor.

Forest fires have burned around 27,000 dunams of land in the first six months of 2025 only, according to Fuad Ahmed, head of the Kurdistan Region’s forest police’s media department.