Valley
Five incidents of blaze reported in Valley in single day
Five separate incidents of fire were reported in the Valley on Saturday.Five separate incidents of fire were reported in the Valley on Saturday.
Police stopped a forest fire at Dakshinkali Municipality-5 from engulfing the nearby settlement earlier in the day.
Officers from Metropolitan Police Sector Pharping doused the fire with support from the Fire Brigade.
At Swoyambhu, two fire engines rushed to Kimdol forest to stop a fire from spreading.
A jungle in Ikudol at Bhattedanda VDC caught fire which destroyed an abandoned earthquake-damaged house and a barn belonging to Hiramani Ghorasaini.
Likewise, a fire at a building inside Pashupatinath Mandir premises destroyed wooden furniture and zinc sheets.
According to police, the fire started at the ticket counter of Pashupati Area Development Trust at the new Kiriyaputri building.
Fire at a grocery store in Lalitpur destroyed goods worth around Rs500,000.
An electric short circuit from a refrigerator ignited the fire at Ishan Kirana Store belonging to Ishwor Karki in Imadol, police said.
According to police, three to five incidences of fire in the Valley are being reported on a daily basis for the past couple of weeks. Chief of Juddha Fire Brigade Office Inspector Kishor Kumar Bhattarai said that fire-related incidents are on the rise due to the dry weather. He also informed that firefighters across the country have joined hands to minimise damage in such incidents and are staying on high alert.
Municipalities are responsible for controlling fire hazard and fighting fire in their area and neighbouring areas. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has six fire engines at the New Road-based Juddha Fire Brigade Office. The station is manned by 33 firefighters and 11 personnel from the Armed Police Force work as auxiliary firefighters. Although Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City has two fire engines in working condition, it only has manpower to operate one at a time while there is one improvised fire engine in Bhaktapur.