Dehradun:�A 75-year-old woman was charred to death and more than half a dozen houses were gutted in a blaze that broke out in Savni village of Uttarkashi late on Sunday. It took the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and fire service personnel several hours to douse the flames. Nine houses, in which around 16 families resided, were completely destroyed, the state emergency operations centre said.
The fire was brought under control by 2.45 am on Monday, according to the SEOC. While efforts are underway to ascertain the exact cause of the incident, it is suspected that an earthen lamp burning in one of the houses led to the fire, it said.
The woman who died in the fire was identified as Brahma Devi. Apart from the nine houses, five adjacent houses had to be razed to prevent the fire from spreading. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued orders to provide all possible help to the affected families. They should be provided food, clothes, other essentials and a temporary shelter immediately, he said.�