KHOTANG: At least seven houses were reduced to cinders when a fire broke out at Halesi bazaar of Halesi Tuwachung Municipality in Khotang district on Tuesday evening. According to police, the flame started at around 7:30 pm yesterday and burnt down the houses belonging to locals Magam Rai, Uchit Bahadur Rai, Tambaraj Rai and Ambaraj Rai. It took three hours for locals to douse the fire. The locals said the fire could have been extinguished earlier had a fire engine reached the site on time. The municipality lacks a fire engine. The locals extinguished the fire before a fire engine reached the incident site from the district headquarters, said the Chief District Officer Santosh Subedi. It is yet to ascertain the property loss and the cause of the blaze, said police.