Sindhuli wildfire yet to come under control
Posted by Anup Baral April 15, 2016 :
Dor Bahadur Bayalkoti of Bubaneshwori VDC, Sindhuli, and his family have been living under the open sky since yesterday after the wildfire that spread to human settlement gutted his house. “It is uncertain how long we will have to stay under the open sky as the wildfire has yet to be brought under control,” he said. Bayalkoti along with his wife and two kids have been living under the open sky since yesterday. He informed that not all fire victim families had received the tents offered by Red Cross Society, Sindhuli after the incident. “The uncontrolled inferno might have destroyed the tents,” he said. Besides Bayalkoti, around 40 families in ward no 1, 7 and 9 of the VDC have been spending nights under the open sky for the last two days. “We have not been able to sleep due to the fear of the raging wildfire,” said Buddhi Raj Karki, another fire victim. He wondered how he would be able to rebuild his house and run the family as his house and property were gutted in the wildfire. Another fire victim Kumar Bayalkoti said even the water pipes had burnt down. He added that the victims were suffering from acute shortage of drinking water due to the same. “The uncontrolled fire coupled with rising mercury leaves us thirsty,” he added. The wildfire had spread from Tangre National Forest on Friday morning. Raging wind had caused the wildfire to immediately spread to human settlements. The fire gutted two buildings belonging to local Kalika Primary School while dozens of cattle died in the incident.Security personnel deployed at the incident site said they were yet to bring the wildfire under control as of today evening. A joint team of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepali Army, along with the locals, have been making efforts to bring the wildfire under control since yesterday. Inspector Sarbashree Bahadur Singh, of Area Police Office, Khurkot, said the wildfire had gradually moved towards the community forest of Baseri, Bhadaure and Okhle at ward number 6 and 8, respectively of the VDC. He said it would take two days to assess the total damage caused by the fire. Meanwhile, various political parties, Nepal Red Cross Society and the district residents have been collecting relief for the fire victims at the initiative of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sindhuli.