The raging forest fire in a community forest of Chhatreswori Rural Municipality-6, Salyan, has not come under control yet.

The wildfire in Indreni Community Forest at Tusare Simpani area entered human settlement on Friday, destroying 10 houses and four sheds. The security personnel of Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force and the local people have been working relentlessly to douse the inferno but to no avail. A woman died while two other people sustained serious burn injuries while trying to contain the massive fire on Saturday.

Those displaced by the fire have been staying in nearby meadows. Tulka Bahadur Rana, a local, said that they were forced to stay in the open, as the forest fire could enter the settlement again and destroy the remaining houses.

“The weather is windy these days. We have set up camps in the open meadow, but sleep is hard to come by at night with the inferno blazing in our village,” said Jit Bahadur Rana, a local resident.

The settlement is facing an acute shortage of drinking water as the forest fire destroyed its water pipelines.

Meanwhile, the District Administration Office (DAO) and the rural municipality provided relief amount and distributed immediate relief materials to the fire victims. The DAO provided Rs 20,000 to the family of the woman who perished in the fire and Rs 5,000 each to the families who were rendered homeless. Likewise, the local unit also provided Rs 25,000 to the bereaved family and Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000 to the fire-displaced people.