Other than dousing the flames by putting hectic efforts, the firemen had to face tremendous hardships by staying alert and maintaining close vigil throughout the night amid the sub-zero temperature in Gadood Bagh area of Habba Kadal.

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Braving bone-chilling cold, over half a dozen firemen spent the whole night in an open sky to ensure that the fire is prevented from spreading in the locality in the intervening night of Friday-Saturday.

The night temperature in Srinagar settled below freezing point and recorded minus 2.6 degree Celsius.

Pertinently, over a dozen of firemen after rousing the flames till late Friday night, spent all the night in an open sky amid the low temperature.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the firemen were seen warming themselves after the people came out from Masjid after offering Fajr prayers.

The local people were in all praise for the firemen for their work.

The firemen, who remained on the road all the night, include Aijaz Ahmad fireman, Showkat Ahmad Selection Grade fireman, Fahmeed Ahmad fireman, MDSO Muhammad Shafi, STo Muzaffar Ahmad, Ishtiyaq Ahmad STO, Bilal Ahmad LFM, Tariq Ahmad LFM.

It is not the first time that we have spent the night under open sky throughout the night, but it is a routine exercise for them, especially when the fire breaks out anywhere in the late evening hours.

“We have managed to save huge properties here, but the fire has damaged almost six houses in the area. During the fire dousing efforts, several houses got damaged due to the water as well,” a firefighter told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

The locals said that among the several houses, one house collapsed completely.

Pertinently, the fire broke out from a house in Gadood Bagh locality on Friday evening at around 09:00 PM. The fire engulfed five other houses in a hurry, causing extensive damage to the affected families.

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The locals appealed to the government to await the fire affected families with compensation at earliest.

It is the second such incident in the locality in the last ten years. In 2012, a total of 40 families got affected in the blaze after 24 houses reduced to ashes in the area.