Gulshan fire exposes city’s vulnerability towards such incidents

That the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence is still not competent enough to deal with fire incidents has been once again proved by how they handled yesterday’s fire at a Gulshan building in the capital. Even though the units of fire fighters reached the spot after ten minutes of receiving the call, they took a long time to bring the fire under control. The fire broke out on the sixth floor of the 12-storey building at 7 pm and it took a total of 19 fire fighting units to douse the fire after four hours at 11 pm. Even this was possible because the firefighters were joined at one point by the air force and army personnel.
Meanwhile, in the fire a life perished and dozens others got injured. Later, another succumbed to injuries in hospital. Several others were still in a critical condition. The Gulshan building was a new one and it had all fire fighting apparatus usually recommended for such buildings.
Despite this fact, it was reportedly alleged that the hydrant in the building was not useful. If this is the scenario with a modern building at a posh area in the capital where there are wide roads, what would happen if fire breaks out in buildings not equipped with fire fighting apparatus in places where there are narrow lanes and bylanes?
The massive fires that we usually witness in the old part of Dhaka are classic examples of this. Most new buildings that are now constructed in the new parts of Dhaka such as at Mirpur and other places give us the impression that their condition is the same as the old Dhaka. There is a plan for city development but it is not followed and only exists on paper.
Therefore, the hard truth is the capital city is as vulnerable to incidents of fire as it was. Take for example the crucial need of relocating chemicals from old Dhaka that were responsible for several massive fire incidents in the recent past. Reportedly, chemical warehouses and plastic factories are still there in the congested places there.
The recent fire at Gulshan, however, has brought another fact before us: there are around 20 firefighting stations in the capital but none of them is located in the Gulshan and Banani areas. How could that be?