HARIPUR (Dunya News/Web Desk) – All the students and teachers were safely rescued after a fire engulfed a school in Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, as the inferno torched the entire building.
The fire was triggered by a short-circuit, as over 1,000 students were attending their classes at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Sirikot – a village located at a distance of 23 kilometres from the district headquarters.
Rescuers and locals failed to contain the fire which got out of control because of material in the structure, especially the wooden furniture in classrooms, as firefighters rushed from the nearby towns.
However, the local people managed to evacuate the students and staff members before the fire torched the entire building before the arrival of officials from different departments.
Later, the rescuers confirmed the reports that none of the persons present in the school suffered any injuries in the horrific incident.
However, the school building fortunately isn’t located in a congested area, thus ruling out the possibility of fire spreading to other buildings.
The incident occurred amid the persistent heatwave affecting Pakistan for over a week, which is expected to continue for another two days.
It worth noting that summer vacation in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa usually starts on June 1 till Aug 15. However, the change in weather pattern and rising temperatures mean that there is an urgent need to modify the schedule, as the month of May is now associated with heatwaves, pushing the mercury over 45 degree Celsius in even those areas where it was previously considered unthinkable or at least an anomaly.
Poor power distribution system as well as substandard wiring in residential, commercial and public structures mean they can’t cope with the excessive heat, which has become a norm thanks to the climate change, resulting in an increase in short-circuit incidents.
In a separate incident, two children were killed and four other persons received severe burns after fire torched their home at Androon Imamia Gate – a neighbourhood in the city of Dera Ismail Khan.