Two children died in a house fire in Khatyad Rural Municipality-2 of Mugu, a mountain district of Karnali Province, early Monday morning. The fire burnt three houses into a cinder at Gadekhola settlement at around 1am.

According to the District Police Office in Mugu, two children of Lalu Sanjyal—14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter—died in the incident. “The charred bodies were recovered from the incident site. The bodies were beyond recognition,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Birendra Thapa. According to him, three houses belonging to Lalu and his brothers Naradeep and Deepraj were completely destroyed by the fire.

According to ward Chairperson Hemraj Malla, the incident occurred after a fire started in the kitchen of local Lalu Sanjyal’s house. The fire quickly burnt through firewood and straw and spread to the animal shed. “The fire could not be contained as the houses were clustered together and the incident happened at night,” said Malla. According to him, four different incidents of house fire occurred in Khatyad Rural Municipality over the past five years.

The security personnel from the Area Police Office in Ratapani and Shreekot Police Post reached the site and recovered the bodies of the victims. Many domesticated animals, food grains, clothes, utensils and other belongings were destroyed in the fire. “Total damage caused by the fire is yet to be assessed,” said Nibendra Budha, in charge of the Area Police Office in Ratapani.

Fire incidents—both house fire and forest fire— occur every dry season in Mugu, causing a huge loss of lives and properties. However, the local units are always caught unprepared. They are not equipped to deal with fire incidents since most of them are in remote areas without transportation facilities. Even the local bodies connected to the national road network do not have fire brigades or fire trucks to contain fire timely.

A raging fire destroyed eight houses near Kalika Malika Temple in Gamgadhi, the district headquarters of Mugu, in September last year. The security personnel of Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the locals contained the inferno after three hours. Properties worth around Rs40 million were destroyed in the incident.

On November 21, 2021, fire destroyed as many as 21 houses in Tallo Bazaar of Gamgadhi. As per the report of the District Police Office, properties worth approximately Rs320 million were destroyed in the inferno.

Jaya Bahadur Malla, district chairman of Nepal Red Cross Society in Mugu, said fire incidents are on the increasing trend in the district, causing a huge loss of lives and properties. As per the data available at the Red Cross, nine fire incidents were reported in Gamgadhi alone over the past five years.

The fire incidents occur quite frequently since the majority of the houses in Mugu are built of wood and have thatched roofs. “The thatched roof wooden houses are prone to fire and it is difficult to douse fire in case fire breaks out in such houses,” said Jaya Bahadur. It is estimated that only around 15 percent of houses in Mugu are concrete.

The local government is criticised for not taking concrete initiative to control fire incidents. Rup Bahadur Malla, a civil society leader, said that the local units paid little or no attention to controlling various disasters like fire.

“People have to bear a huge loss of lives and properties due to the negligence of the local government,” he said. “The local units should make effective plans to minimise fire and other natural disasters.”

Mugu does not have even a single fire truck. The security personnel and the locals struggle to contain fires and have only water at their disposal. Chhayanath Rata Municipality, where the district headquarters Gamgadhi lies, decided to buy a fire engine last year but it is yet to be operated.