UTTARKASHI: Almost all of the 39 houses in Sawadi village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand were reduced to ashes in a major fire early Friday morning, turning the 40 families homeless overnight. Close to 100 cattle were burnt alive in the inferno.While no loss of human life has been reported in the incident so far, rescue personnel are evaluating the total extent of losses. District magistrate (DM) Ashish Chauhan said the exact cause of fire was yet to be ascertained. Teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police and administration officials have begun relief work.According to local residents, officials could only reach the spot around 4 am due to the remoteness of the village and extinguish the blaze. Frightened villagers were forced to spend the night in a nearby forest. Affected families were later shifted to a primary school nearby where relief material was made available to them. DM Chauhan also announced a primary compensation of Rs 3,800 to each family.Located around 200 km from the district headquarters, the only access to Sawadi is through Jakhol, about 7 km from the village. People from neighbouring hamlets, including Jakhol, Dhara, Sinkundi, Dhatmir, Fitadi and Osal, were the first to come to the rescue of the affected families.Residents said fire incidents in Mori were a regular occurrence but the administration had failed to take preventive measures. Between 2006-2013, in eight incidents of fire some 263 houses have been burnt in different villages of Mori, killing three and charring hundreds of livestock. A common contributor, especially during winter, is bonfires inside traditional wooden houses that are built using dry grass and mud.District disaster management officer, Devendra Patwal, said, “Villagers often light fire to increase room temperature in harsh winters. They also keep their livestock inside homes at night. We are planning to spread awareness among locals about ways to construct safer homes.”Gulan Singh, a resident of Jakhol, said, “So many houses have been engulfed in fire in the past couple of years here. There has been no disaster management system to protect us from such incidents.”Datmeer Village, 120 houses burnt and one man killedOsla Village, 53 houses burntKot Village, 8 houses burntSidri Village, 40 houses burnt and two people killedDhara Village, 3 houses burntPaisand Village, 14 houses burntSatudi Village, 3 houses burntSunkundi Village, 22 houses burnt

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