11 cylinder blasts made fire fighting difficult
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, June 11: At least 13 houses were gutted during a massive overnight blaze in the Noorbagh area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district leaving over 30 families homeless.
As per officials, there was no loss of life reported from the spot of fire, however, the blaze spread swiftly because all the houses were made of wood and engulfed the adjacent houses in the area resulting in severe damage. Click here to watch video
The officials said that prima facie, it appears that there was a gas leakage from one of the houses which resulted in a fire that then spread quickly engulfing 13 residential houses.
The blaze as per the officials turned out to be challenging as there were consecutive 11 explosions of gas cylinders from 11 houses which further aggravated the situation.
At the same time, the officials of the Fire and Emergency Department told Excelsior that the area being congested again posed a challenge, while there was a continuous wind blowing over the area throughout the night which also made the operation a bit difficult.
As soon as the residents woke up to the flames and smoke emerging out of their houses, they began the process of rescuing their family members to the place of safety.
As the flames spread, the officials of the district administration along with over 9 fire tenders from 6 adjacent fire stations reached the spot and started the process of dousing down the flames, which were, by then spreading at a faster pace. The flames were finally brought under control at around 2:00 am.
During the process of dousing down the fire, one fire-fighter namely Javaid Ahmad Qazi also suffered injuries. The losses to the property, as per the official estimates, are nearly 50 lakh rupees.
After the night passed, as a part of its initial response, the District Administration Baramulla got the temporary accommodation of the affected families done and provided financial assistance to them as well.
“We have handed over Rs 50,000/- to each family and apart from that, we have provided them the basic utensils and other stuff so that they could live at the temporary accommodation that we have provided them,” Bhupinder Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla told Excelsior.
The names of some of the affected heads of the families are: Akram Sheikh, Nazir Ahmad, Fayaz Ahmad, Shahbaz Ahmad, Adnan, Faizan, Shahnaz Ahmad, Mudasir Ahmad, Zohra Begum, Sadir Ahmad, Nawab Ahmad, Abdul Rahim, Parveen Ahmad, Imtiyaz Ahmad, Amir Sheikh, Jan Bibi, Muhammad Amin, Naseer Ahmad, Rafiq Ahmad, Javeed Sheikh, Adil Sheikh, Adil Sheikh, Abdul Rasheed, Hyder Sheikh, Muzaffar Sheikh, Manzoor Ahmad, Kuka Sheikh and Dilshad.
As per the officials, a total of 160 souls of over 30 families have been affected and have been rendered homeless.
Meanwhile, on the directions of Lieutenant Governor, Advisor to LG Baseer Ahmad Khan accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Bhupinder Kumar and other senior officers paid a visit to Noorbagh Baramulla.
The Advisor provided cheques worth Rs 50,000 to each affected family as an immediate relief apart from other relief material which was also disbursed. He also directed for disbursement of additional relief under SDRF. He also announced a one-month free ration among the victim families.
Furthermore, the Advisor directed the DC to undertake a holistic assessment so that they can be covered under the PMAY housing scheme.
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