60,000 trees damaged
Sulaymaniyah authorities arrest forest fire suspect
SULAYMANIYAH — Authorities in Sulaymaniyah’s Arbat sub-district arrested a person suspected of igniting a fire that devastated 124 acres of grazing and forest land, damaging nearly 60,000 trees, police said Thursday.
The blaze, which erupted in the villages of Welaka and Darbandfaqara within the Arbat sub-district, consumed approximately 124 acres of land. “Each donum typically supports about 120 trees, resulting in approximately 60,000 trees being damaged,” the Forest and Environment Police of Sulaymaniyah reported in a statement.
Following the report of the fire, a team from the Forest and Environment Police was dispatched to the site to extinguish the blaze and begin an investigation into its origins.
“A citizen was apprehended on charges of starting the fire based on preliminary investigations at the scene,” police noted.
Details regarding the circumstances that led to the fire have not yet been officially disclosed.
It took around four hours to contain the fire.
The investigation continues at the Forest and Environment Police station in Arbat, where legal actions are being prepared, according to officials.
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