Budaun Village Fire During Storm, May 2025

On the night of 21 May 2025, a storm was blowing over Tappa Jamni village in the Ujhani area of Budaun district, Uttar Pradesh. A spark from a transformer is reported to have started a fire, and the wind carried it from one house to the next. By the time firefighters and police reached the village, around 200 houses had been reduced to ashes.

Nobody died, the District Magistrate told PTI. One man was burnt while running to escape and was admitted to the community health centre in Ujhani. Many cattle died in the fire.

What happened

• When: the night of Wednesday, 21 May 2025, during a storm.
• Where: Tappa Jamni village, Ujhani area, Budaun district, Uttar Pradesh.
• Reported cause: a spark in a transformer. This is the early official account. We have not seen a final inquiry report.
• Damage: about 200 houses gutted and many cattle killed. The number of animals was not reported.
• People: no deaths, and one person with burns.
• Relief: District Magistrate Avnish Kumar Rai said the administration would assess the losses and pay compensation to the families affected.

Why one spark took so many houses

The fire did not start inside anyone’s home. It started on the power supply that serves the village, at night, when most people were indoors and many were asleep. The storm wind did the rest.

The news reports do not say how the houses were built. But in many villages of this region, houses stand wall to wall, some with thatch or other light roofing, and fodder and firewood are stacked right beside them. In a strong wind, a fire in that kind of cluster moves faster than people can fetch water. Narrow lanes and a storm also make it hard for a fire tender to get close.

For a farming family, the cattle are often the biggest asset after the house. Losing both in one night means losing the home and the income together. That is why relief after a fire like this has to cover animals and lost documents, not only rebuilding.

What could have reduced the damage

• Check power equipment before the storm season. Transformers and overhead lines should be inspected, and bushes, branches and stacked fodder cleared from around them.
• Keep fuel away from houses. Fodder stacks, thatch and firewood should not touch the walls or sit under power lines.
• Leave gaps. Open strips between clusters of houses work as firebreaks and give a fire less to jump across.
• Rebuild with materials that do not burn easily. Brick, clay and tile or sheet roofing hold up far better than thatch.
• Raise the alarm early. A village team that knows who shouts, who calls 112 and who clears the way for the fire tender saves minutes that matter.
• Keep water ready. Water drums and sand buckets at fixed points in each lane, and at least one approach road wide enough for a fire tender.

If a fire spreads through your village in a storm

1. Shout and wake everyone in your house and the houses next to you. Do not wait to be sure.
2. Get out. Carry the children and help elderly people. Leave your belongings behind.
3. Move away from the fire and across the wind, not with it, towards open fields or a pucca road.
4. If there is smoke, keep low and cover your nose and mouth with a damp cloth while you get out.
5. Keep well away from fallen or sagging power lines.
6. Call 101 or 112. Give the village name, the nearest landmark and how many people may be trapped.
7. If you are trapped inside, shut the door, stuff wet cloth into the gaps and shout or wave a cloth from a window.
8. For burns: Cool the burn under cool, clean running water for 20 minutes. No ice, toothpaste, oil or butter.
9. Anyone who has breathed in smoke should see a doctor, even if they have no burns.

The bigger lesson

Rural electrification is about more than getting a connection to every village. The lines and transformers also have to come through a storm without sparking. Fire safety planning in India is still mostly about cities. Villages need the basics too: power equipment that is inspected, firebreaks, water points, a trained local team, and quick, open relief when the worst happens.

What you can do this week

• Look at the transformer nearest your house. If it sparks, hums loudly or has bushes growing round it, report it to the electricity department.
• Move fodder and firewood away from the walls of your house.
• Do not sleep right under power lines or next to a transformer.
• Agree with your family on an open meeting point away from the houses.
• Save 101 and 112 in every phone in the house.
• Ask your gram panchayat to set up a village fire team and a training session before the next storm season. You can also volunteer with HowToSurvive.in or VFF to run fire safety camps in villages.

One phone call about a sparking transformer costs nothing. A village fire costs families everything they own.