Shafaq News- Nineveh/ Kirkuk

Civil defense teams on Wednesday contained separate agricultural fires in Nineveh and Kirkuk provinces after the blazes destroyed about 25 dunams (2.5 hectares) of cultivated land and threatened hundreds more.

A security source told Shafaq News that the Nineveh fire erupted in the village of Tall Jamal, in the Tal Afar district west of Mosul, after sparks from a harvesting machine ignited dry crops. More than 15 dunams (1.5 hectares) planted with wheat and barley were damaged.

In Kirkuk, a fire broke out in wheat fields in Yaychi subdistrict west of the province, damaging about 10 dunams (one hectare) of crops. Authorities have opened an investigation into the cause of the blaze.

Agricultural fires are frequently reported across Iraq during the harvest season. In recent days, blazes have damaged wheat fields in Kirkuk and Saladin provinces, including a fire that destroyed approximately 15 dunams in Tuz Khurmatu and separate incidents in Al-Hawija and Daquq districts that burned more than 80 dunams of wheat fields.