It was supposed to be a regular Monday morning. Kids in class, teachers at their posts, another unremarkable day in the quiet Upper Subansiri district town of Daporijo. Then, at around 11:30 am, smoke began rising from the terrace of Little Blossom Day Care School in Medical Colony — and everything changed in an instant.
A massive fire broke out at the school premises on Monday, September 21, sending students, staff, and local residents into a panic. The sight of thick smoke billowing into the midday sky would unsettle anyone, let alone the young children who were inside at the time.
The fire reportedly originated on the terrace of the school building, where a large stockpile of wooden and bamboo materials had been stored — believed to be intended for construction work on the premises. Once the blaze caught hold of those dry materials, it spread fast. Flames leapt upward and dark smoke poured across the colony, drawing alarmed locals to the scene.
What could have been a catastrophe, thankfully, was not. Students managed to get out safely, and authorities confirmed that no casualties have been reported. That, above everything else, is the one fact worth holding on to here — nobody got hurt. In a situation that had every potential to turn tragic, the children of Little Blossom walked out unharmed.
A fire tender was dispatched to the spot and crews worked quickly to douse the flames, stopping the blaze from jumping to other sections of the building or spreading to nearby structures. Credit where it’s due — the response appears to have been reasonably swift.
Still, the questions that need answering haven’t been answered yet. The cause of the fire remains unknown. Whether it was a stray spark, an electrical fault, or something else entirely — investigators haven’t said. The exact extent of damage to the school property and materials is also yet to be formally assessed, and authorities are expected to conduct a full inquiry into both the cause and the losses.
For a town like Daporijo, which has seen fire-related incidents before — including a blaze at Gandhi Market just weeks ago in August — this latest incident raises uncomfortable questions about fire safety preparedness, especially in spaces meant for children. A school terrace piled with construction materials isn’t exactly a low-risk setup.
For now, the families of Daporijo can exhale. Their children came home safe on Monday. But the embers of this story — about storage safety, emergency response, and infrastructure in remote Arunachal Pradesh — haven’t fully cooled yet.
