IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – The use of unsafe methods of cooking and heating in camps in Idlib, northwest Syria, causes fires that result in severe burns and the destruction of tents.
In mid-December, the Syria Response Coordinators Team reported new fires in the northern Syrian camps in the towns of Kelli and Tel al-Karama in the northern countryside of Idlib as a result of the use of unsafe cooking stoves and heaters.
The number of fires within the camps rose within eight months to 74 cases, according to the statistics of the Response Coordinators Team.
12-year-old Rola Mohammed, who suffered burns at the beginning of December, is still receiving treatment to get rid of the pain and effects of those burns.
The girl’s family was displaced from the town of Jarjanaz to a camp in the border town of Atma. Her mother said that while trying to light the wood stove, she poured a little fuel on the wood, but the container caught on fire and exploded.
As a result, the child’s face and hands were moderately burnt and parts of her tent were lost.
Amidst deteriorating living conditions, displaced families are lighting firewood or makeshift stoves for cooking near the tents due to their inability to purchase safe heating materials such as diesel and gas.
Many of the displaced also use tires, pieces of plastic, charcoal, and even garbage for heating, even though these are harmful and unsafe materials.
Zakaria al-Haddad, who was displaced from Daraa to a camp on the outskirts of Idlib, told North Press that he managed to put out a fire that broke out in his tent days ago. It happened when his wife was preparing lunch using the cooking stove beside the tent, and the wind blew and set fire to the tent.
“Fortunately, I was there, so I tried to put out the fire before it spread,” he added.
Displaced families in Idlib camps rely on cooking food via primitive means, such as firewood or a kerosene stove, and stoves are placed near the tents due to the overcrowding in some sectors of the camps.
The incidence of these fires increases amid the lack of extinguishers and lack of awareness of firefighting methods.
Camp director Kamal Muhaimed pointed out that they have appealed to many organizations to secure alternative heating methods and to secure caravan rooms for housing instead of flammable fabric tents, but there has been no response yet.