From Our Correspondent
Tura, March 25: In a major scare, a heritage house, belonging to the first Chief Minister, Captain Williamson Sangma, caught fire and suffered major damage following what is suspected to be a faulty coffee machine that short-circuited. The incident took place in the Hawakhana locality of Tura.
The house is also the residence of Fersen (Panseng) W Momin, the former MDC from Tura and son of the former late CM.
The incident was initially reported around 11 AM on Tuesday morning to the Fire Emergency Services (F&ES) department following which a team of fire personnel from Tura immediately rushed to the spot to control the damage. However, with the fire being electrical in nature, the danger of injury was heightened with even the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team and F&ES tenders from Rongram and Dalu being pressed into service.
The huge group was finally able to douse the fire more than 3 hours later but by then most of the rooms in the house were completely damaged beyond recognition.
“We suspect the fire started from a faulty coffee machine and quickly spread through the electric wiring. There were a lot of flammable items including sofas and documents that helped the fire spread quickly. We had to call in reinforcements from everywhere to ensure the fire was put out quickly,” said Superintendent of Police, F&ES, Bruno Sangma.
The fire quickly spread from one room to another due to the short circuit and in no time, almost everything was up in flames.
Sangma said there was a fear of the fire spreading through the overhanging electrical wires though their timely intervention prevented this from happening.
“There is a petrol pump nearby as well as an indoor sports stadium. If the fire had spread through the wiring, it could have gone in all directions and made the situation worse. Thankfully we were able to control it from happening,” added the SP.
Bruno also added that an assessment of damage could take a few days as the owners (Capt Williamson Sangma’s family) would need to identify what was destroyed in the fire.
There were however no injuries or casualties as there was no one in the house during the incident.
Meanwhile, social activist Cherian Momin lamented the destruction of one of the few historically significant buildings in the town of Tura.