A massive fire gutted 2 kuchcha and four pucca houses in Nainabar village, located under Kandi police station of the district around 45 km away from the district headquarter, on Wednesday. No casualties were reported in the blaze.
Fire broke out when someone set fire to a pile of garbage kept near a house. The fire engulfed many houses due to strong gusts of wind. The wood, bamboo, animal feed kept for firewood inside all the houses caught fire. Other important documents and food grains, clothes, bedding, mobiles kept inside the house were burnt to ashes, said victim KalendraBaitha.
The fire spread with the wind and devoured houses one after the other. By the time people came to know about the fire, a bunch of houses were ablaze, said another victim SikanderBaitha.
Among those whose house has been damaged due to fire, KalendraBaitha, SikandarBaitha, DudunBaitha, AkhileshBaitha, Naval Baitha, KewalBaitha, SurendraBaitha have a newly constructed house under the Pradhan MantriAwasYojana.
With no fire tenders at hand deep in the jungle, villagers alerted TATR administration and rushed to douse the fire by throwing water with whatever utensils they could get.
Fire was brought under control by taking water by starting 5 diesel pumps, said Kandi BDO Manoj Tiwari.
AkhileshBaitha and Naval Baitha have suffered more than the fire. Their grain and clothes have also been burnt in this fire, BDO said.
BDO added that the compensation for the damage caused to the families affected by the arson will be done as per the government provisions.