CAIRO — A number of massive fires have erupted since May 9 in various areas of Cairo and other provinces, destroying popular markets, residential properties, public facilities, government buildings and agricultural land. The state has yet to officially announce a clear reason for the fires, which have led to a state of public anger among citizens, particularly those affected by the blazes.

In the Ataba district of central Cairo, which is home to the largest popular market frequented by thousands of shoppers on a daily basis, a fire broke out May 9 and burned down more than 250 stores and commercial warehouses. This was followed by another fire in al-Ghoria, a commercial district of the capital considered to be the heart of Cairo. Other blazes shortly followed that affected a Cairo governorate building, the Ministry of Interior, the faculty of sciences at Cairo University, the Cinema Institute and a school in the Doqqi neighborhood. These fires brought back memories of the Cairo fire of January 1952, which was the initial spark for the July 1952 Revolution that ended the rule of King Farouk.

With fires breaking out on a near daily basis, the fires in Ataba and al-Ghoria, along with the destruction of the largest commercial center upon which a huge segment of Egypt's lower classes rely, resulted in an increased state of anger against the government and the presidency. It reached the point that some accused the state of being behind the fires in order to empty the downtown area of vendors and commercial activity. 

Mohammad Azab, the chairman of the Engineering Syndicate's technical committee that was tasked with investigating the cause of the Ataba fire, told Al-Monitor, "The committee's final report concluded that a number of factors contributed to the fires, most notably that these areas had a concentration of storehouses containing flammable liquids and the absence of fire brigade [stations] nearby."