5 houses, 3 shops gutted

At least five houses and three shops were gutted by two separate fires in Haimchar upazila in Chandpur on Monday. Local people said a fire erupted from a warehouse of one Zakir Hossain at Janata Bazar and it soon engulfed five adjacent houses. Locals managed to extinguish the blaze. Zakir Hossain, an affected businessman, alleged that miscreants torched his warehouse by pouring petrol. Valuables worth Tk 1.5 million were gutted in the warehouse by the fire, he claimed. Another fire incident at Algi Bazar in the same upazila burnt down three shops. The fire originating from a tea stall of one Selim burnt down two other adjacent shops also. Locals doused the flame before fire fighters reached the spot. The extent of losses from the fire was estimated at Tk 160,000, according to UNB.