Handwara, Dec 19 (KNS): Delay in fire tender reaching to fire incident spot due to its break down turned a warehouse into ashes as required help couldn’t reach in time to douse off the flames in Muqam village of Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, locals said on Tuesday.
Locals told Kashmir News Service (KNS) that fire broke out in a warehouse of mattress, bed sheets, other warm sheets belong to Abdual Jabbar in Muqam village today and soon after they informed the nearest fire station, which is just a 2 kms away, however, the fire tender they had sent broke down midway, resulting in delay to reach the spot.
They said that later a fire tender was dispatched from Handwara, which is around 20 kms away and by the time it reached the spot, warehouse was turned into ashes.
Locals alleged that delay in reaching any help resulted into loss of property worth lakhs even as there is a fire station in the vicinity. “What is the use of having fire station in the vicinity when the lone fire tender is out of order. The break down out of the vehicle resulted in the loss today and some day a major tragedy could hit the village in the absence of a fire tender,” they said.
An official said that as they received the information about fire, they rushed to the spot, but the fire tender broke down midway due to some technical fault.
He said that the vehicle is worn out and breaks down quite often. “We have already written a proposal to the higher ups for repairment, but so far we have not received any response causing hindrance in our daily operations,” he said. (KNS)