Thirty-three houses in JamalBabouVillage in CRR North last Saturday were caught in a big conflagration between the hours of 2pm-3pm. By the time of the fire outbreak, villagers were attending an annual Gamo in Janjangbureh while others were busy with the monthly set-settal.

According to eyewitness accounts, the fire started in the compound of the village Alkalo while the wife of the alkali’s son was cooking. There was no means of putting the fire out because there were no water sources. It was the military officers posted at Lamen-koto Badala, 7km from Jama Babou, who used their vehicles to take water to Jamal Babou. A horse was lost in the fire incident and all the foodstuffs got burnt to ashes in all the 33 houses. The victims were assisted by the police in Janjangbureh who estimated the damage to be over a million dalasis.