Demra fire: Building construction disregarded safety regulations

A fire that broke out at a clothing warehouse on the second floor of a three-storey building in Demra area of the capital on Thursday night has been brought under control after 8 hours.

On Friday morning while speaking to the media, Fire Service Incident Commander Lt Col Md Rezaul Karim said the affected building in Bhanga Press area and buildings next to it don’t have even an inch of gap between them.

There are no designated fire exits, he said, adding that the firefighters faced difficulty entering the building as the staircase is excessively narrow.

They did not find the water reserve that was supposed to be under the building. Firefighters did not find water reserves around the affected building either. For this reason, it took time to extinguish the blaze.

He said firefighters had to use the water from drain to control the flame as there were not enough water supplies nearby.

Rezaul Karim said a section of the roof has already collapsed, posing an imminent danger of further structural failure.

In response to a question, Rezaul said the fire service, after dousing the blaze, would be able to carry out an investigation and confirm whether the building had the necessary documents or not.

He said the amount of damage could not be ascertained immediately.

The fire, that erupted at around 11:30pm on Thursday. Ten units of firefighters promptly rushed to the spot and later members of the Bangladesh Navy also joined to bring the fire under control, according to a statement of the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate (ISPR).

The fire was brought under control at 8am on Friday, said Shahjahan Sikder, DAD of Fire service and Civil Defence (media cell).

He said the agency, however, could not immediately confirm the cause of the fire.