{"id":42441,"date":"2026-01-27T12:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=42441"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:51:20","slug":"aweil-residents-decry-frequent-fires-as-dry-season-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/aweil-residents-decry-frequent-fires-as-dry-season-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Aweil Residents Decry Frequent Fires as Dry Season Looms \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>By Hou Akot Hou<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

At least five shops were reduced to ashes on Friday after a massive bushfire erupted at approximately 4:00 AM in Panthou Payam, Aweil South County.<\/p>\n

According to Victor Garang Geng, the Payam Administrator, the blaze occurred while residents were still asleep. Geng described the incident as a devastating loss for the local business community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fire consumed everything around 4:00 AM. We have not yet identified how it started or who might have set the shops on fire,\u201d Geng lamented. He noted that the destroyed properties included a pharmacy, a restaurant, and several stores containing sacks of sorghum.<\/p>\n

The fire has left several entrepreneurs and farmers in financial ruin. Mary Aguak, a restaurant owner, said she has been left with nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost everything, including my cooking utensils. I have no capital left to start over,\u201d Aguak stated.<\/p>\n

John Kuol, a local farmer who used the shops to store his harvest, also counted his losses. \u201cEverything is gone sacks of sorghum, groundnuts, and even some cash I had kept there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This incident is part of a worrying trend across Northern Bahr El Ghazal state. Last week, a mysterious fire in Warpac village, Aweil North County, killed 85 goats inside a byre.<\/p>\n

Deng Malual, a neighbour who witnessed the aftermath, said the owner was away at the market in Ariath Payam when the fire broke out. Out of 90 goats, only five were rescued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe act is mysterious. The husband was at the market and his wife and children were asleep when the hut caught fire,\u201d Malual narrated. He warned residents to remain vigilant against potential arsonists, adding, \u201cSome people are malicious enough to set a hut on fire and disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar reports have emerged from Malualkon Town in Aweil East County, where local pubs were recently targeted. These recurring incidents have sparked fear among residents and traders as the dry season approaches.<\/p>\n

The combination of high winds and dry vegetation makes the region a “tinderbox.” Firefighters are urging the public to exercise extreme caution, particularly in homesteads where children might be left unattended near open flames.<\/p>\n

For rural communities that rely on their harvests to survive, these fires represent more than just a loss of property they represent a descent into poverty. Despite frequent appeals for help, many victims say they are left to recover on their own without government or humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By Hou Akot Hou At least five shops were reduced to ashes on Friday after a massive bushfire erupted at approximately 4:00 AM in Panthou Payam, Aweil South County. According to Victor Garang Geng, the Payam Administrator, the blaze occurred while residents were still asleep. Geng described the incident as[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aweil","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/images.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42443,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42441\/revisions\/42443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}