Taib Ahmed
The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence lacks logistics to extinguish fire in buildings of more than 14 storeys.
The agency has only two hydraulic ladders which can hose water up to the 14th floor of a building at best and the country does not have helicopters equipped to put out flames in high rises.
Two years have elapsed since the blaze at BSRS Building at Karwan Bazar, but the country has failed to develop any mechanism to extinguish fire in the buildings with more than 14 floors, though there are numerous multi-storey buildings in Dhaka.
When asked why Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha approved the high rise although the country lacks the requisite fire-fighting equipment, the Rajuk chairman, Shafiqul Islam, told New Age, ‘The fire on the 19th floor of the Bashundhara City Tower is a new phenomenon. I have already talked with the officials concerned to review the related laws. We will sit on Sunday to discuss the issue and to see whether new laws are needed.’
The fire at city’s largest shopping mall complex has once again exposed the inadequacy of logistics for disaster management.
As the blaze was engulfing the 19-storey complex, giving rise to huge plumes of black smoke, the fire-fighters were just standing on Panthapath, looking up helplessly.
While the high officials of the Bashundhara Group were desperately asking the officials of the fire service to extinguish the fire engulfing the corporate offices of the group on the 17th, 18th and 19th floors of the building, two hydraulic ladders were sprinkling water on the glasses of the 14th floor.
Even two hours after the fire erupted at 1:30pm, the fire fighters and rescue workers were unable to douse the fire due to lack of proper equipment.
‘The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence has two hydraulic ladders which can extinguish fire only up to the 14th floor of a building,’ Brigadier General Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah, director general of the fire service, told newsmen.
He said the authorities of such high rises should have their own fire-extinguishing arrangement.
‘All arrangements to extinguish the fire were in place, but there was not enough water in the tanks of sprinklers to douse the fire,’ he told reporters.
Former fire service deputy director Selim Newaz Bhuiyan, said, ‘It is a fact the fire service does not have sufficient equipment to douse fire in multi-storey buildings. But we can overcome the situation if all extend their cooperation.’
The prime minister’s military adviser, Tareque Ahmed Siddique, admitted that the country does not have arrangements to extinguish fire by helicopters.
Architect Iqbal Habib, however, held the authorities concerned accountable for their negligence in enforcing the Fire Brigade Act which stipulates that the authorities will inspect the city high rises every month to see whether the fire extinguishing systems are functioning.
‘The building’s authorities should conduct fire drills monthly so that the people inside the building can cope with the situation,’ he opined.
The deputy managing director of the Bashundhara Group claimed they had all the necessary fire-extinguishing arrangements and they used to conduct fire drills regularly.
An official of the Bashundhara Group told New Age, ‘There were all the necessary arrangements for extinguishing the fire, but the situation could not be tackled promptly as the day was a holiday.’
Courtesy of www.newagebd.com
