Srinagar, Dec 1: At least 10 residential houses were gutted in a massive fire in the remote hilly area of Tulail near the LoC in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district last night, officials said on Wednesday.
SDM Gurez, Mudassir Ahmad while confirming damage to at least 10 houses in the blaze, told Greater Kashmir that the fire broke out in Tetri Kilshay Mohalla of Kilshay village located adjacent to the LoC.
As per an Army spokesman, the cause of the fire was not immediately known, however the first flames are said to have emanated at around 2:30 AM last night from the house of one Ghulam Nabi Lone son of Gafoor Lone who works as a porter with the Army.
More than 10 houses were engulfed in the flames and eventually razed to the ground, the Army spokesman said.
A nearby Army post spotted the fire in the village and a quick reaction team from the post carrying fire fighting equipment immediately reached the village for the assistance of the villagers and evacuated them from their houses even as it tried to douse the flames from spreading further, he added.
The Army spokesman further said that the team being the first responder to the situation was able to minimise the damages and contain the fire until the fire department reached the village at around 0430 hours.
The joint team of Army and fire department soon extinguished the fire completely and were able to save many precious lives, he said.
As per Army, the soldiers provided breakfast for the entire village and is providing the villagers with tentages, sleeping bags and food supplies to mitigate their hardships.
The villagers and the civil administration have expressed their profound gratitude towards the proactive and swift measures undertaken by the Army in containing this catastrophic situation, it added.
The extensive damage in the fire is being attributed to the far off location of the area with reports also blaming lack of road connectivity to the particular locality from the main road.