House gutted in New Theed blaze

Srinagar, Nov 4: A double-storey house was gutted in a fire incident at Harwan area here today.

According to officials of the Fire and Emergency Services, the incident occurred at New Theed area.

The officials said they received information about the fire incident at around 3:46 p.m. They said multiple fire tenders from Shalimar, Brain, Hazratbal and Gawkadal were pressed to douse off the flames.

“The double-story house was gutted in the incident. Our fire units did everything to prevent the fire from spreading. Locals also helped during the incident,” said an official.

The officials said that the majority portion of the house was made of wood which made the fire worse. “There was wooden paneling and other woodwork done on the house which led to rapid spread of fire,” added the official.

Witnesses said that the family lost all its belongings in the incident. They said the area has hundreds of tightly packed households. They said that the lack of a fire and emergency station in the locality is hindering fire and emergency operations.

“It took a long time for fire brigades to reach the spot. Initially, only one fire tender came, and till then, major damage had been caused. This area has remote localities like Faqir Gujri and others nearby. These areas have no accessibility to fire and emergency stations in close vicinity. We hope the administration will provide one fire station here,” said Mudasir Ali a local.