At least five houses were destroyed in a fire that broke out at Tekhapukhu in Bhaktapur municipality-1 in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The blaze that started from the house of one Indra Shilpakar at around 1 am, however, has been doused with the help of fire fighters, police and locals.

According to the police, the fire gutted homes of Shilpakar, Purushottam Shilpakar, Laxmi Prasad Shilpakar, Narayan Shilpakar and Dan Bahadur Shilpakar.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Krishna Prasai of Metropolitan Police Range Office, Bhaktapur said preliminary investigation has assumed that a dry wood used to cook food at Indra Shilpakar's house could be the prime factor behind the spread of fire.

Human casualties have not been reported so far, but the belongings inside the houses have all been reduced to ashes. The estimate of the total damages incurred is yet to be ascertained.