3 houses gutted in Chattabal blaze; several families left without shelter

Srinagar, Nov 30: At least three residential houses were gutted in a fire incident at Chattabal area here.

As per the officials of the Fire and Emergency Services, the fire incident occurred in wee hours on Saturday and gutted three houses located adjacent to each other.

The officials said they received information about the fire incident at around 6 a.m. They said multiple fire tenders from Headquarters, Safa Kadal, Gaw Kadal, and SH Pora were pressed to douse the fire.

“These were three houses located adjacent to each other. All of the gutted houses were three-story. The fire started in one of the houses and soon spread to other houses. The prompt action by the F&ES teams prevented the fire from spreading in the congested locality. Luckily, there was no loss of life; however, the houses were severely damaged,” said the official.

The officials said that the cause of the fire is under investigation. They said that the locals also helped in the operations. However, several families lost all their belongings in the incident.

“Multiple families are living in these houses and have lost every belonging. Amid the bone-chilling cold, these people lost everything, and we hope that authorities will provide all the necessary assistance to the affected families,” said a local.

Meanwhile, on the directions of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, Dr. Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat, a team of District Administration, Srinagar Saturday morning visited Chattabal area of the District to provide immediate assistance to the fire affected families whose houses were gutted in massive fire incident during wee hours here today.

The immediate relief was sanctioned by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar and was provided to the affected families through the team of District Administration headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner, Syed Ahmad Kataria and Tehsildar South in the form of blankets and kitchen sets, besides Rs 15k to each affected families as an interim relief out of the District Red Cross Fund.

The team of District Administration Srinagar also expressed sympathy with the affected families on loss of property.

Further, the DC has also directed the concerned authorities to assess the losses and make a comprehensive report for providing structure-wise financial assistance under SDRF to the fire affected families separately.