Taib Ahmed
Inaccessibility to the offices on the 18th level of the Bashandhura City Tower and lack of breathing apparatus and other necessary equipment for the shopping mall’s own fire fighting unit were some of the major reasons for the failure to tame Friday’s fire at the initial stage, said fire fighters.
They also said lack of proper training for the fire fighters of the Bashundhara City complex also caused the delay in dousing the flames.
‘As soon as we detected the origins of the fire on the 18th level, we along with some 15 or 16 fire fighters tried to get to it but could not enter the room as we did not have necessary tools, including breathing apparatus,’ Gazi Golam Mostofa, fire officer of Bashundhara City complex, told New Age on Saturday.
‘Though we were equipped with hydrants, hoses and other instruments, those could not be used as we could not enter the offices of [the group’s] managing directors on the 18th level,’ he said.
He said, ‘At one stage, fire fighters started to leave the place as they could not stand the heat…. But I along with some other fire fighters went up on the rooftop.’
‘All the fire fighters who went to the rooftop tried desperately to save their lives and some of them jumped to the nearby rooftops using ropes. I was airlifted from the rooftop by a chopper four hours after the fire broke out,’ he said.
Another member of the fire fighting staff of the shopping mall said at least two of their colleagues had died on the spot, being asphyxiated by smoke as they did not have breathing apparatus.
The fire fighter said he thought they could have put down the fire early, if they had been equipped with necessary equipment and sufficient manpower.
‘The fire fighters [of the shopping complex] were not well trained and the management hardly made any arrangements for fire drills,’ he said.
He said the authorities of the Bashundhara City complex had only 25 fire fighters for the massive 19-storey building with a two-level basement, though it was equipped with modern building management systems, which should ring alarm continuously after detecting a fire.
Architect of the grand structure, Mohammad Foyezullah said the building was equipped with all necessary fire alarm system and a complete building management system was in place.
‘We are investigating how the fire originated and spread to other floors,’ the architect said.
Architect Iqbal Habib, however, held the authorities concerned accountable for their negligence of the Fire Brigade Act which stipulated that the authorities should inspect the city high-rises once a month to see whether the fire extinguishing systems were functioning.
‘The authorities of the complex should conduct monthly fire drills so that the people inside the building can cope with emergencies,’ he said.
Sources in the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence admitted that they did not inspect the fire fighting systems of high-rise buildings on a regular basis.
Director General of the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, Abu Naim Md Shahidullah, could not be reached by phone for comments despite repeated attempts.
Courtesy of NewAgebd
