ABBOTTABAD/BAJAUR: At least 40 shops of used items were reduced to ashes after a massive fire broke out early on Saturday in a flea market located along the Karakoram Highway in Mandian area of Abbottabad.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire started in one of the shops and quickly engulfed the entire market, which was packed with winter merchandise such as used clothes, sweaters, shoes, and bags. The intensity of the flames was so high that smoke and fire could be seen from miles away.

Residents living behind the market narrowly escaped as the flames spread to adjoining houses. Due to the early morning timing, most shops were closed, and rescue calls were made repeatedly to Rescue 1122, Cantonment Board, TMA, and the district administration. However, locals complained the emergency teams arrived when the entire market was reduced to ashes.

Rescue 1122 officials said four fire vehicles and two ambulances were dispatched immediately upon receiving the call, and additional fire brigades from Havelian, Cantonment Board, and TMA were also summoned due to the intensity of the fire. The rescue operation continued for several hours before the flames were brought under control.

Scores of trees burnt in Bajaur

Fortunately, no casualties were reported, but traders suffered losses amounting to millions of rupees.

The shopkeepers held Rescue 1122 and local authorities responsible for their delayed response, staging a protest and demanding an inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, scores of trees were burnt after a wildfire erupted in the Arang mountains of Utmankhel tehsil in Bajaur district on Saturday.

“Soon after the fire erupted, locals rushed to the scene to stop it, but were unable to do so due to the intensity of the fire and lack of necessary expertise and equipment,” a villager told Dawn.

A Rescue 1122 official said a team of firefighters, along with local forest department officials, promptly arrived at the scene.

“The fire was eventually brought under control through the joint efforts of firefighters and forest department officials after facing challenges accessing the area due to narrow pathways and bushes,” the official added.

The official, though declining to specify the cause of the fire, urged local residents to refrain from setting fires in the forest.

Also in the day, a house of a local resident was burnt after a fire broke out in the hilly Charmang Valley on Saturday. The villagers said the fire, the cause of which was yet to be confirmed, gutted the house of Arab Gul in the Seda Shah village. The residents alleged that Rescue 1122’s Nawagai station did not respond to their calls.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2025