At least 49 Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel have died in the line of duty since 1966, with the highest toll recorded in 2022, when 13 firefighters were killed and that was the deadliest year in the agency’s history.
According to official statistics, 24 firefighters were killed and 386 others injured during operations over the past decade.
The latest casualty was reported on Tuesday, when Shamim Ahmed, 40, a firefighter critically burned while tackling the Tongi chemical warehouse blaze, succumbed to his injuries.
Dr Shaon Bin Rahman, resident surgeon of the institute, said Shamim passed away around 3:00pm at the ICU.
“He was admitted with 100 percent burns following the Tongi chemical warehouse explosion. Three others were also admitted. Condition of two of them is critical,” he said.
Talha Bin Zasim of the Fire Service and Civil Defence’s media wing said Shamim joined the service in 2004. He is survived by wife and three children.
Doctors said two more firefighters remain in critical condition — one with 100 percent and another with 42 percent burns.
Data show that from 2015 to 2024, 23 members died while on duty. With Shamim’s death, the figure has now climbed to 24.
The breakdown shows: 37 injured and one killed in 2015; 72 injured in 2016; 47 injured and two killed in 2017; 24 injured in 2018; 29 injured and one killed in 2019; 37 injured and one killed in 2020; 8 injured and two killed in 2021; 40 injured and 13 killed in 2022; 54 injured and one killed in 2023; and 38 injured and two killed in 2024.
Since the establishment of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Directorate in 1981, at least 46 personnel have lost their lives. Adding earlier records from 1966, 1971, and 1973, the total death toll of fire service members stands at 49.
The Fire Service has reported that one member was killed in 1966, one in 1971, one in 1973, one in 1981, two in 1982, two in 1988, one in 1989, one in 1991, one in 1996, three in 2000, two in 2001, one in 2006, one in 2007, four in 2008, two in 2009, two in 2013 and 2015, two in 2017, two in 2019 and 2020, two in 2021, 13 in 2022, one in 2023, two in 2024, and one in 2025.
Among them are 35 firefighters, 7 group leaders, 3 drivers, and one each from senior station officer, station officer, diver, and nursing attendant positions.
The deadliest single incident in the agency’s history was the Sitakunda fire on June 4, 2022, which claimed the lives of 13 firefighters. In earlier years, four were killed during operations in 2008 and three in 2000.
Officials emphasised that the Fire Service and Civil Defence, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, remains a frontline emergency agency dedicated to public safety.
Whenever a fire breaks out or disaster strikes, firefighters are the ones who rush in with sirens blaring, risking their own lives to protect others. But their deaths, during fighting the inferno raises painful question how their sacrifices is valued afterward.
