An old bungalow built during the British era at Goomtee tea estate located in the Kurseong subdivision of Darjeeling district was gutted in a blaze on Wednesday morning.

Firemen from the Kurseong fire station took some two hours to control the blaze. Ezaz Ahmed, the SDO of Kurseong, also visited the site.

SDO Ahmed said no injury or casualty was reported so far. “We are trying to find out the cause of the blaze,” he said.

Sources said that around 9.30am, the fire was spotted at the director’s heritage bungalow in the garden, some 12km from Kurseong town and around 50km from Siliguri.

Sources in the management said despite attempts made by around 200 garden workers to douse the flames, the fire spread easily across the wooden bungalow because of steady wind. Finally, firemen from Kurseong reached the site with a fire engine and extinguished the blaze around noon.

The garden management, sources said, was in the process of developing the property into a resort.

“We are now assessing the quantum of damage,” said a source.

Subhash Pradhan, the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha’s Kurseong sub-division, said as soon as they heard about the blaze, they asked workers to rush to the site to help.

“I called up representatives of our trade union at the garden and asked them to assist the firemen,” Pradhan said.