A fire broke out at a warehouse in Bhanga Press area of Dhaka’s Demra on Thursday night, burning down huge sports goods.
Shahjahan Sikder, deputy assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence (media cell), said the fire erupted around 11:30pm on the third floor of a four-storey building in Bhanga Press area.
On information, two fire engines rushed to the spot at about 11:45pm.
Later, eight more fire service units from Demra, Postogola, and Siddik Bazar rushed to the spot and joined the firefighting efforts.
Members of the Bangladesh Navy also joined the fire service to bring the fire under control.
Finally, they managed to bring the fire under control after eight hours of hectic effort around 8:00am and doused it completely around 11:50am, confirmed Shahjahan Sikder.
FSCD Director (Training, Planning and Development) Lt Col Md Rezaul Karim visited the spot on Friday morning and said the amount of damage could be ascertained after investigation.
Businessmen said the fire damaged
goods worth at least Tk 50 crore.
Lt Col Md Rezaul Karim said, “A section of the roof has already collapsed, posing an imminent danger of further structural failure.”
The construction of the building had disregarded safety regulations, the fire service official said.
“There are no designated fire exits, and the entry stairs are excessively narrow… Moreover, the absence of water reserves within the building compounds the challenges,” he explained.
“The buildings are tightly packed. The building just east of the one that caught fire is very close to it… there is not an inch of gap between them. Because of this, we have been unable to spray water from the east side of the building.”
He said, “We did not find the water reserve that was supposed to be under the building. We did not find water reserves in the buildings around it either. These factors have made it tough for us to put out the fire.”
In response to a question, Rezaul said the fire service, after dousing the blaze, would be able to investigate and confirm whether the building had the necessary documents.
After the intensity of the fire subsided, the fire service and businessmen started to take out the burnt goods from inside.
Sumon, an affected businessman, said, “We are taking the products that are intact separately. Although its amount is very less. I had goods worth several crores of taka in this godown. It is all over.”
FSCD Deputy Director (Planning) Akhtaruzzaman said, “The entire building was filled with sports equipment. As a result, we had to struggle a lot to put out the fire. After the fire subsided, the fire service personnel entered and removed the burnt goods. Another thing is that there was not enough source of water here. We have to fetch water from about half a kilometre away.”
Though many goods were burned out in the fire, no injury or death has so far been reported. The cause of the fire could not be known immediately.
Meanwhile, a fire broke out on Friday at a residential building in the capital’s Dhanmondi area.
According to the fire service, the fire broke out around 4:45pm at a residential building opposite to Rapa Plaza on Dhanmondi 27. Three units were sent to the scene. However, the fire was extinguished before the fire service arrived.
The fire was reported to have started from an electrical wire between two buildings at Dhanmondi No. 27. No casualties were reported in the fire incident.