Wooden cottage burns at Maredumilli resort, no one hurt

What happened

On the morning of Monday, 26 October 2026, a wooden cottage at The Woods, a resort on the Maredumilli to Chintur road in Andhra Pradesh, caught fire and burnt down. One report puts the time at about 7 am. The resort was built with government money and is run by a private contractor. Nobody was hurt. The guests who had stayed in the cottage had left earlier, by an hour according to two reports. Staff phoned the fire station at Rampachodavaram, and one report says the engine reached the spot after the cottage had already burnt out. The firemen then put out the flames that were still going. The loss is put at about Rs 30 lakh. Updated 27 October 2026.

An electrical short circuit is the cause being mentioned, and every report words it as a first guess. Most reports speak of one cottage, a VIP suite. Two use the plural for cottages or suite rooms. Maredumilli is a forest tourist area where film crews and holidaymakers stay, and the resort sits near coffee plantations on the main road.

Why a wooden cottage burns so fast

Two reports say about 70 per cent of the cottage was timber. One says the flames spread in moments once they took hold. Wood, furniture and bedding give a fire plenty to feed on, and a cottage standing in a forest clearing has few people around to raise an alarm. The resort has more than 20 cottages along with a wooden canteen and a wooden meeting hall, as one report describes it. That is a lot of timber in one compound.

Could it have gone beyond control? What the reports show

This was a government-built tourist stay with wooden buildings, some distance from the nearest fire station. We list only what the reports say.

• The fire began at about 7 am in one report and in the morning in the others, in daylight and with staff around.
• The cottage’s guests had left before the fire, about an hour earlier in two reports and early in the morning in another. One report says only that nobody was in the room.
• Tourists in other parts of the resort saw the flames and were frightened, according to two reports. How many guests were on site is not stated, and no report describes any evacuation of other cottages.
• The cottage was built largely of wood, and one report says it was fully gone by the time the engine arrived.
• The fire station is at Rampachodavaram, a different town. The distance and the travel time are not given in any report, and none says whether the resort has its own fire equipment.
• Two reports say the fire crew kept the flames from spreading to other parts of the resort. No other building is reported damaged.
• A local daily says critics allege that this resort and most others in the area have little fire-safety equipment, and that it had carried a similar warning in August. No official has confirmed or denied this, and the resort has not responded in any report.

So the record shows one wooden cottage lost, an empty room, a late engine and no injuries. It does not show how near the fire came to the other cottages. We do not guess at that.

Planning a stay near Maredumilli? Our Maredumilli safety guide lists the nearest fire stations and emergency numbers worth noting before you travel.

What is still not known

No official has confirmed the cause or the loss figure, and the Rs 30 lakh number is an estimate. We do not know the exact time, how many guests were in the resort, whether it had working extinguishers, alarms or a water supply, or how far the fire station is. Reports differ on who built the resort and at what cost. Maredumilli is in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district, Andhra Pradesh.

What a guest can do

• Look for a fire extinguisher near the cottage door and read the pressure gauge. If you see none, tell the staff before you unpack. Our guide on fire extinguisher basics explains what to look for.
• Switch off heaters, chargers and extension boards when you step out. A small fault in old wiring is how many fires start.
• Know the way out and gather away from the cottages if you see flames. See how to escape a smoke-filled room and how to make an evacuation plan that works.
• Call 112 or 101 early, and say the resort name and the road. See how to call 112, 101 or 108.
• Compare other stays. The Cox’s Bazar wooden resort fire, the Tarapith lodge room fire and the Fort Kochi hotel fire show how much the building and the first minutes decide.

When you check in to a cottage in a forest area, ask the staff how far the nearest fire station is and who they call first, and save that number on your phone beside 112.