Date:19/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/19/stories/2008051957390100.htm

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Fire renders 300 homeless

Special Correspondent

Five-year-old girl burnt to death, three others suffer burns

The exact cause of the fire yet to be established
District Collector orders provision of relief to affected families for seven days

BHUBANESWAR: As intense heat wave conditions continued to prevail in many parts of the State, more than 300 persons, belonging to 73 families, were rendered homeless in a major fire in Ranibhuin village in Angul district on Sunday.

A five-year-old girl was burnt to death in the fire, while three others, including a 14-year-old girl, sustained burns. While two of the injured were admitted to a local hospital, the girl had been brought to SCB Medical College in Cuttack for treatment.

The fire first caught the house of a washerman family at one end of the village around 11-30 am and soon spread to the other houses. By noon, almost the entire village was on fire with people running for their lives.

The gutsy wind played villain making the fire spread faster engulfing almost the whole village, according to Digambar Sahu, a resident of Ranibhuin.

Mr. Sahu, however, was lucky. His house was among a dozen houses that were saved from the fire as a fire tender reached the spot by that time.

Speaking over the phone from his village, Mr. Sahu said that the exact cause of the fire had not been ascertained till evening. The fire could not be prevented from spreading at the initial stage as most of the elders had to work in their fields.

Three fire tenders drawn from Athmalik, Rairakhol and Bamur were pressed into service to contain the fire.

The houses, many of them pucca buildings, smouldered in the fire till evening despite the best efforts of the firemen to bring the fire under control.

Minister’s visit

State School and Mass Education Minister Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, who was attending a meeting in Talcher area, rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

District Collector Girish S.N. and other officials of the local administration visited the village in the afternoon.

The Collector directed the administration officials to provide emergent relief to the fire victims for a period of seven days.

As many as 37 persons have been killed due to sunstroke in the State so far, including four in Angul district,