Hundreds of people die every year in fires in the capital. A safe and effective system to prevent this fire is called 'fire hydrant'. The directorate of Fire Service and Civil Defense has been recommending the installation of fire hydrants on the side of the road. But even today no fire hydrant has been installed anywhere in the city. The fire service is blaming the city corporation for this while the city corporation is blaming Dhaka WASA. In this situation, who is responsible for putting out the fire in the capital? Neither fire service nor WASA authority of the city.
'Fire hydrant' is the name of a safe and effective system against fire accidents. It is basically a type of water tap placed on the roadside. And emergency water can be supplied from this tap in case of fire. This system has been developed to prevent fire accidents in almost all world cities.
According to the relevant sources, the city corporation is responsible for installing fire hydrants in the capital. However, despite feeling the need, the city corporation is delaying the installation as it is expensive. A huge amount of money will be spent but the revenue income will not come - basically, the city corporation is not implementing the 'fire hydrant' project based on this thinking. So they are trying to avoid it by putting the responsibility on each other in different ways.
Fire service officials say that hundreds of people die every year due to fires in the capital, but there is no fair solution. After the loss of life in the fire, the concerned organizations of the government try to take some initiatives. The fire service forms an investigation committee. Many errors come out. But these errors are not being addressed. The fire service's recommendations to reduce the incidence of fires do not come to light. If this continues, incidents like Churihatta or Nimtoli may happen again and again in Old Dhaka.
As many as 124 people died in the Nimtoli fire which broke out on 3 June 2010. After two years some 117 people burnt dead in another blaze that occurred in Tazrin Fashion. A total of 51 people were killed in a fire that broke out at the Hashem Food factory in Narayanganj.
Some 71 people died in the Churihatta fire of Chawkbazar on 20 February 2019, 27 died in Banani FR Tower fire on 28 March the same year, 49 were killed in BM Container depot fire, 31 in Tampico Foils Packaging factory, 17 at Chunchutia plastic factory in Keraniganj, 12 in Mogbazar blast and 6 died in the latest CHawkbazar’s plastic factory fire on 15 August. A total of 505 people died in these fire incidents while hundreds of thousands of people sustained burn injuries.
"Old Dhaka densely populated areas have narrow roads. In the event of a fire, the fire service vehicles cannot move quickly through the narrow roads. That is why it was recommended to install street hydrants at certain distances on all the roads and lanes here. But none of the recommendations worked," said Deputy Director of Fire Service and Civil Defense Directorate Dinmoni Sharma to TheReport.live claiming that it is possible to reduce the amount of damage in the event of a fire in different areas of the capital.
“The city corporation is responsible for installing fire hydrants on the roads in the capital not the fire service department. But the city corporation is not taking any initiative to install hydrants. In our neighboring country, India, fire hydrants are installed at every corner of the road. But there is no fire hydrant anywhere in the road in our country. If there is a fire in any area, it must be extinguished by taking water from the reserve tank of the local building. There is a kind of doubt among the fire service personnel about the adequate water supply. It has to be under pressure at work. Fire service needs water,” added he.
Installation of fire hydrants is recommended to concerned agencies to minimize damage in case of fire. But these recommendations are not seeing the light of day.
“There is no recommendation from the fire service to install fire hydrants on the roads to reduce the damage in the fire events. Fire hydrants were contemplated when the recommendation came to the planning department. However, in the future, a master plan is underway for the entire Dhaka South City Corporation. It will release the master plan by December this year,” said Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) chief urban planner Sirajul Islam.
After the Nimtali fire, several recommendations were made by the fire service. Among these recommendations, it is said that chemical shops and factories or warehouses cannot be built in residential areas, 18-foot roads must be widened for vehicular traffic in Old Dhaka, and volunteer workers must be formed. Water reserve in every building should be constructed suitable for use by the fire service.
“The capital Dhaka was not built in a planned way. As a result, commercial and residential buildings have been built in the same area. Chemical godowns are being housed in commercial buildings. People are losing their lives due to the increase in fire incidents. However, if fire hydrants were installed on the road, the amount of fire damage could have been reduced. But there is an arena of corruption within the organizations that will install fire hydrants. Due to this, even though the plan to install fire hydrant is not being implemented,” Urban planner Professor Adil Muhammad Khan told The Report.Live.
The concerned official of Dhaka North City Corporation told The Report.Live that the city corporation has no plans to install fire hydrants on the road. Because fire hydrants need huge water pressure. Dhaka Wasa will not supply water for fire hydrants. And the city corporation does not have the authority to increase the water supply or water pressure. So there is a conflicting issue between the two agencies even though there is a need for a hydrant.
However, Dhaka WASA officials say that Dhaka WASA will try to supply water if the City Corporation installs fire hydrants on the road. And, the organizations have to sit together on this.
