Most high-rise complexes in Ctg lack fire safety system

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CHITTAGONG, Mar 22 (UNB): Most high- rise residential and commercial buildings in port city Chittagong are extremely vulnerable to fire hazards, mainly in the absence of fire protection and extinguishing systems apart from emergency escapes, according to officials of the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) department.
Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) had allegedly been approving the design and plan of the high-rise apartment buildings and commercial complexes without confirming independent fire fighting systems and emergency exits, a senior engineer of the CDA told the news agency.
Regarding the fire safety arrangements of the multi-storied buildings, he lamented that no public agency had ever physically inspected the fire fighting facilities of the tall buildings of both residential and commercial status.
Fire safety issues have become one of the major issues of concern for the urban population here in recent years, especially following the major infernos that occurred in Dhaka over last couple of years.
According to an official of CDA, there are just over 400 high-rise apartment, office and shopping complexes in the city.
The majority of the high-rise apartments are at Mehdibagh, Khulshi, Nasirabad, OR Nizam Road and Lalkhan Bazar, while the commercial complexes can be mostly found around Agrabad, Khatunganj, Jamal Khan Road, Chawkbazar and GEC circle. Nearly a dozen private hospitals and diagnostic centres are allegedly housed at the high-rise complexes without adequate fire protection and other safety measures.
Deputy Director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Chittagong, M Ruhul Amin said that the builders of the high- rise structures seldom cared for the amount of free space they were leaving around their projects, and some of the buildings had even erected on narrow streets that could hardly host a fire engine carrying fire-fighters or an ambulance, in case of an emergency.
He suggested deployment of trained private fire fighters at the high- rise buildings, alongside adequate fire safety devices. Routine fire drills and emergency evacuations of the building are also necessary for the rate of casualties in similar cases of accidents to drop.