Soran official says lack of safety knowledge contributed to fire deaths

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The head of Erbil’s Soran administration on Saturday said that a lack of knowledge of basic safety protocols was a contributing factor in the deaths of 14 people in a fire the day before.

“One of the reasons is the people’s lack of awareness of how to evacuate the building in such cases,” Halgurd Sheikh Najib, supervisor of Soran administration, told reporters in a press conference.

The building, which houses many students and lecturers of Soran University, caught fire late on Friday. At least 14 people were killed and four others were injured.

Najib said the building had emergency escape ladders, but they were not used, and residents did not go to the rooftop to escape the flames and smoke. 

“There are so many questions that are unclear to us, about why they couldn’t save themselves,” he said.

Najib said the blaze will be investigated down to its tiniest detail, all shortcomings will be announced to the public and work will be done in areas found to need improvement.

Najib had spoken on the phone with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani who instructed him to “take all necessary measures so that such incidents do not happen again,” read a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.

All the victims died from smoke inhalation, Kamaran Mala Mohammed, the general director of Soran’s health directorate, told Rudaw on Saturday. 

Two of the victims were from Soran and the others were from Iran, Syria, and southern Iraq.

The cause of the fire is yet to be officially confirmed, but initial reports suggest that it was due to an electrical short circuit.

Two people have been detained, according to Najib, the owner of the building and the owner of a furniture shop on the ground where the fire originated.

Najib said that the Soran administration will not wait for the results of investigations, but will begin to work on fire safety in all buildings within its administration. Although there are fire safety measures in some buildings, a lack of public knowledge on how to respond in such emergencies was a problem for the residents and firefighting teams, he said.

“Sometimes there are the necessary civil defense utilities inside the buildings, but the residents of the building cannot use them. For example, there are fire extinguishers, and they do not know how to use them. Or there are emergency escapes that they do not know where they are,” he said.

Soran administration declared a three-day mourning period following the fire. Najib said that a ceremony will be held on Sunday when the bodies of the victims will be handed over to their families.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement that he has spoken with officials in Soran and asked them to “do everything to support and help the victims.” He also asked local authorities to carry out a “thorough and serious” investigation into the fire, “the safety measures of the building and other public and private buildings,” and ordered the interior minister to establish an investigative committee and identify the negligent party.

According to data from the Kurdistan Region Police Directorate, a total of 7,546 fire incidents were recorded across the Region in 2022. Faulty electricity and lack of basic safety measures are frequent contributing factors to fires and deaths.

In Hamdaniya, anger still simmers after a tragic blaze at a wedding hall in September killed more than 130 people.