A fire swept through a row of houses in the Mahawatta area of Grandpass, Colombo, on Tuesday, destroying about ten of them outright and damaging others, on the accounts of the Colombo Fire Service Department and the police.
Around 25 houses caught fire, the Fire Service Department said, and six fire engines were deployed to bring the blaze under control and stop it spreading to neighbouring properties, the Daily Mirror reported at 4.33 p.m.
Police told Hiru News that the fire completely destroyed approximately ten houses and partially damaged several others. Hiru describes the structures as a row of temporary houses.
The two figures are not in conflict
It would be easy to read “around 25” against “approximately ten” as a discrepancy. They are measuring different things, and from different authorities.
The Fire Service Department’s 25 is a count of houses that caught fire — the extent of what crews were fighting. The police figure of ten is a count of houses completely destroyed, with several more partially damaged. The two accounts fit together: a fire that reached roughly 25 dwellings, of which about ten were lost entirely.
The density visible in the scene explains how a fire moves through that many homes. The photograph Hiru published shows flame breaking through corrugated sheet roofing on low, single-storey structures built hard against one another, with no gap between roofs for a fire to cross.
No casualties reported
The Daily Mirror’s filing, the earlier of the two, said the cause of the fire and details of any casualties or injuries had not yet been confirmed.
Hiru’s account, which carries a photograph timestamped about half an hour later, reports the police saying no injuries or casualties resulted from the incident. That is the later and more specific statement of the two, and it is attributed to the police rather than left open.
A note on the place name
The neighbourhood is rendered Mahawatta by the Daily Mirror and Mahawatte by Hiru. These are transliteration variants of the same place, not two locations.
Not reported
Neither filing gives the cause of the fire, and neither says when it started or how long crews took to bring it under control. Neither reports how many people have been displaced — a figure that matters more than the house count where the dwellings are described as temporary — or what arrangements, if any, have been made to shelter them.
No filing carries a statement from the Colombo Municipal Council, the Disaster Management Centre or any divisional secretariat, and none says whether the destroyed houses were insured or whether compensation is contemplated. Neither names any resident or carries an account from anyone who was there.
Sources: Daily Mirror, Hiru News.
