Fires destroy homes, granary at Kinunger village

Church targeted in suspected arson

MOKOKCHUNG — Kinunger village in Mokokchung district experienced a series of fire incidents on Friday, resulting in the complete destruction of two houses and a granary as well as a suspected case of arson at the village church.

According to Kinunger village council chairman, Imlikenba, the fire first broke out at around 1:30 am at Yimpang area, quickly spreading to a nearby house while villagers were attempting to extinguish the initial blaze. In the chaos, a granary was also engulfed in flames.

Both the houses were vacant houses and no casualties and injuries were reported, he said.

An official from the Fire Station Mokokchung South located at Marepkong, said a distress call was received at around 3 am. However, by the time the two fire tenders from the station reached the spot, everything turned into ashes despite the villagers’ attempts to douse the fire.

Due to windy conditions at the time of the incident, the firefighters took safety measures to prevent the fire from spreading to adjoining houses, and returned to the station at around 6 am, after dousing the fire.

The official informed that the house where the fire started belonged to one Imkong, and the second house belonged to Lipoknungsang, while the granary belonged to Imtimongla.

‘Nothing could be salvaged from both houses, even three scooters kept inside the houses were also damaged and  the rice granary stocked for the whole year were also completely burnt to ashes,’ he said.

The official also said that the cause of the incident is unknown.

The village council chairman said that volunteers from the neighbouring villages of Aliba and Chungtia responded swiftly, along with the fire and emergency service personnel.

Meanwhile, the chairman informed that a potential arson attempt at the church was discovered at the village church later that morning.

At around 9:40 am, while the villagers were clearing debris from the first fire incident, another fire inside the village Church was reported and was swiftly doused. Villagers reportedly found three packaged drinking water bottles filled with petrol inside the church, one of which had ignited, causing minor damage to the floor and chairs.

Two more petrol-filled bottles were found in vacant houses during a subsequent search around the village, he said.

The village council chairman suspected that the incidents were intentional and perpetuated by some unknown miscreants.

In this connection, an FIR has been lodged and police personnel have seized the bottles containing petrol and conducted preliminary investigation, he said, adding that a revival programme scheduled for Friday evening, has been postponed due to the incident.

Further, he estimated that property worth approximately INR 15 lakh were destroyed by the fires.