Shafaq News – Baghdad

Nationwide fires have fallen by 58 percent this year, compared with previous years, Iraq’s Civil Defense Directorate announced on Sunday.

Civil Defense Department Director Mohsen Kazem said during a press conference in Baghdad that teams extinguished 5,456 fires, closed 9,892 projects for safety violations, and prevented an estimated 94 billion dinars in losses while responding to 274 emergencies, including traffic accidents, suffocation cases, and fire-related rescues.

He confirmed the delivery of 28 rescue boats for river centers and a contract for 28 firefighting boats, noting that Civil Defense vehicles have been equipped with tablets to help crews reach incident sites more quickly.

Iraq has recorded more than 55,000 fires nationwide—excluding the Kurdistan Region—since 2022, according to official data. Civil Defense noted that most incidents stem from faulty electrical wiring, flammable building materials such as sandwich panels, fireworks, and, in some cases, arson tied to tribal disputes.

One of the deadliest fires this year struck the city of Kut in Wasit province, killing at least 70 people—many of them women and children—and injuring dozens more.