Fire on Mount Safeen extinguished after burning 18.5 acres

ERBIL – A fire that broke out on Mount Safeen within the Shaqlawa district of Erbil province Friday night was extinguished by Saturday morning, after consuming approximately 18.5 acres of forest, officials said.

The blaze, which ignited around 8 p.m., was fueled by strong winds that rapidly spread the flames across the mountainside. “By 8:30 a.m., six civil defense teams from Erbil had successfully contained the fire,” Shakhawan Saeed, a spokesperson for Erbil Civil Defense, told 964media.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, he added.

Wildfires are a recurrent issue in many rural areas of Kurdistan during the summer, often ignited by unattended fires amid high temperatures and dry conditions.

This incident follows several significant wildfires in the region, including a large fire on Mount Zozik in the Soran Autonomous Administration, Erbil, on Aug. 22, which took nine hours to control and scorched an estimated 37 to 49 acres of forestland.

Another major fire erupted on Goizha Mountain in Sulaymaniyah on July 29, burning approximately 49 acres of grassland and forest, according to initial assessments.