House catches fire while sleeping; livelihood turns to dust in a moment

Sithara Hassan lit a candle before she went to bed on Thursday night as there were recurring power cuts in different parts of Hithadhoo, Addu that night. A few hours after she had fallen asleep, she woke up feeling too hot at 2 in the wee hours. Even her groggy mind became aware that the heat was not coming from the candle she had left lit, and she jerked awake at the thought.

The first thing she did was to open her room door to see what was happening. She could see that there was a fire spreading in  her living room. Sithara had just a few seconds to decide what to do next.

"Me and my three little children were at home at the time. Also my sister and her two children, her husband was not home," Sithara recalls.

In a short span of time, the house was charred beyond use in a fire that broke out in Addu on Thursday night. Most of the items in the house, which had two rooms and a living room, were burnt. No furniture, or clothing or children's school stationery were saved.

Sithara, who lives in the house for rent, said she and her three children were sleeping in one room, while in the other room were her sister and her two children. Among them was an eight-month-old infant.

With the living room on fire, Sithara first looked inside the room to save her three children who were very scared at the time. Wrapping a bedsheet around the children, she took them out of the house through the burning living room. It was an ordeal through which she had held her breath. During the evacuation of the children, their hair was singed, and the fire had affected their bodies, she said.

"The children were very scared," Sithara said.

"I took them out and told them to go to the house next door and ask for help quickly. Then I went back inside to save my sister's family."

It was harder to get into her sister's room next to Sithara's room than she had expected. Sithara had bought some furniture for her bedroom and had left it temporarily right in front of the door to her sisters room, which had caught fire and was ablaze so she was faced with a burning barrier to reach her sister. She didn't know what to do next.

Sithara said she could hear her sister crying for help from her room at that time, but because of the fire blocking her, she had to wait for an opportunity.

Sithara was able to reach hr sisters’s room when the neighbours came and reduced the fire by throwing in buckets of water. By then it had already been half an hour while Sithara was attempting to rescue her sister.

"When I finally managed to enter the room, my sister was carrying her two children inside the toilet, with a wet blanket wrapped around them," said Sithara, describing the scene.

Though the fire directly did not affect anyone, the smoke from it caused everyone to be treated for it at the hospital. Sithara's sister and her eight-month-old son are undergoing treatment at the hospital still, according to her.

The fire was doused by the efforts of the neighbours and the army, but not much was saved. It was initially believed that the fire was caused by the burnt-out candle, but after investigation, the army said it was caused by an electric short.

Sithara and her family are currently in the custody of Addu City Council. Addu Council and Disaster Management Centre are working to provide them with temporary housing.

Sithara, who has been living alone for years without a husband, comprehend the challenges that she will face ahead in her life. Although the children were not physically injured much, they are still traumatised.

"I've been living for rent since my divorce. Now, even with the Single Parent Allowance and the father of my children covering some of the expenses, I will have to start life from scratch again," Sithara said.