3 houses gutted in Noorbagh blaze

Srinagar, Nov 2: At least three houses were gutted in a fire incident at Noorbagh locality in Downtown today.

Officials from Fire and Emergency Services said the fire incident occurred at Shaheen Mohalla area of the locality—gutting three houses located adjacent to each other.

The officials said they received information about the fire incident at 11:51 a.m. They said multiple fire tenders from Headquarters, Safa Kadal, and SH Pora were pressed to douse the fire.

“Three houses were gutted in the incident. We pressed multiple fire service units to ensure that the fire didn’t spread. The area is congested, and the adjacent houses were also involved, inflicting major damages to the houses,” said the official.

The officials said that the cause of the fire is being ascertained. The locals also helped in rescue operations, however, the families lost all their belongings in the incident.

“Multiple families are living in these houses and have lost every belonging. Be it utensils, clothes, bedding, or other important belongings, everything was reduced to ashes. The major portions of houses, including roofing, doors, and windows, turned into ashes in no time,” said a local.

The locals said that the area lacks accessibility due to traffic congestion which hindered the firefighting operation.

“We have had many fire incidents in the past few years here, and every time, lack of accessibility is creating issues. Traffic jams on congested roads hinder movement of fire tenders. The main roads are full of roadside parking, and unless authorities wake up to the issue, it will continue to pose a threat to locals during such incidents,” said a local.