The fire, sparked by a short circuit at the home of Jaya Krishna Yadav, completely destroyed 127 homes belonging to 41 families. Two people were injured and three head of livestock perished in the fire. [brak]
“Sudden noise at midnight woke me up. I almost fainted when I saw that the house I was sleeping in was completely in flames,” said Yadav.
“I rushed outside and called out to my neighbors. People screamed as they fled from the flames. Some were busy taking their children to safety while others scrambled to save their moveables. In no time, the entire settlement had turned to cinders” Yadav said, describing the incident.
According to police, property worth over 15 million rupees was destroyed in the fire. “So far, we are assessing the property damage at around Rs 15 million. The amount may rise as well-off families were in a majority in the settlement,” Superintendent of Police Sanjaya Singh Basnet informed.
As per information provided by the police, 68 thatched houses, 40 tin-roof houses, 10 cemented houses and 7 cowsheds were destroyed in the fire.
Fire victims said they could save noting as the incident took place at night. “The fire quickly spread throughout the dense settlement. I could not even bring my clothes out of my house,” said Devendra Banariya, a local.
Ganga Prasad Yadav, former VDC chairman, said the fire destroyed a huge amount of grain such as rice and wheat stored by the people. “It´s a farming village. Most of the people store their crops for future use,” he added. “The families have nothing left as the fire gutted all the stored grain."
The locals are angry with the fire brigade as it was slow to reach them. The called the fire engines at around midnight but it took them one hour to reach the spot, which is just 15 km from Rajbiraj. The fire was brought under control at 3 a.m. on Saturday with the effort of five fire engines from surrounding towns.
Various institutions and organizations have handed out food items to the fire victims.
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