Kolkata, Nov 16 : As many as 17 small houses were gutted in a devastating fire late on Friday night that continued till Saturday morning at Nimtala in North Kolkata.

However, since the residents staying in those houses located near the crematorium at Nimtala, managed to evacuate in time, following which, there was no casualty.

As many as 20 fire tenders rushed to the spot and after hours of rigorous fire-fighting, the fire was ultimately brought under control by 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Two members of the state Cabinet, namely the state fire services minister Sujit Bose and the state women & child development minister Dr Shashi Panja rushed to the spot soon after the fire broke out and supervised the process.

Panja informed the media persons that alternative and temporary accommodations have been arranged for these families whose houses were gutted because of the fire. She also said that the state government will arrange for necessary compensation for those families as per the procedure.

Eyewitnesses said that the source of the fire was a warehouse which was stocked with small wood logs required for cremation purpose. Because of the inflammable nature of such logs, slowly the entire warehouse came under the clutches of fire.

Eyewitnesses also said that they heard the sound of bursting of some gas-cylinder from inside the warehouse which probably aggravated the impact of the fire further.

At the same time, as per eyewitnesses, the strong wind from the side of the adjacent River Ganga aided the fire to spread fast, due to which, the 17 houses came under the clutches of fire within a very short period of time.

'The officers of the fire services department are trying to ascertain the exact reason behind the fire. The reason will be known after forensic experts will give their report in the matter. I would like to assure the affected families that the state government is with them,' Sujit Bose said.

/IANS