00:00According to a police report, officers responded to the incident at about 10.49pm and found the two adjoining wooden
00:07dwelling houses and a separate wooden structure used for rearing livestock fully engulfed in flames.
00:13Fire officers from the Chagornas and Coover fire stations responded and extinguished the blaze.
00:18While investigators have not determined an official cause, homeowner Azair Ali said he was told that a floating lantern had
00:26landed on a tree before another allegedly came down in the vicinity of his house.
00:31Ali said he and his wife had gone to sleep at about 8pm when his wife was awoken by the
00:37smell of smoke.
00:38He said the fire had already reached the back of the property by the time he realized what was happening.
00:43This lantern was floating and came down on PVC ceiling and started the fire and well that is the end
00:54of my house.
00:55However, Ali later made it clear that he could not independently confirm the suspected cause and did not want to
01:03accuse anyone.
01:04So I only go in with what I was told. I cannot confirm and will not confirm to accuse nobody.
01:11Ali said he and his son had attempted to rescue the livestock, but hundreds of the animals were lost.
01:17His son, Arishad Ali, sustained superficial burns to his back while assisting during the fire.
01:25He was taken to the Chagornas Health Facility where he was treated and discharged.
01:29Ali said the fire also destroyed about 600 roosters which he had intended to sell for Christmas, along with several
01:36sheep and goats.
01:49The fire also destroyed the adjoining home of 58-year-old Nadara Mohammed, who lived there with her 21-year
01:56-old son.
01:57Mohammed said she had been in bed when her son alerted her that the neighboring house was on fire.
02:03She said the flames spread to her home, destroying everything inside, including furniture and other household items that she had
02:10recently acquired after completing renovations.
02:14The fire started from the neighbor and came and burned straight across to my house and burned down everything right
02:21now.
02:22Mohammed said it was the second house she had built and she was now faced with having to start over.
02:28Ali said the fire also destroyed equipment used in the small business and gardening activities, leaving him without any means
02:36to resume earning an income.
02:38Alexander Broussoul, TV6 News.
