Improving preparedness against fire-fighting
Monday, 1 December 2008
IT is regrettable that a great deal of resources of this poor country is lost regularly to fire incidents. Fire accidents lead to loss of resources valued, according to some reliable estimates, some Taka 2.0 billion annually, on average, in Bangladesh.
Fire incidents in Dhaka city showed that the fire service is under-equipped to fight fires in high-rise buildings. Presently, it has no dependable capacity to reach fires above six stories; it does not also have the special chemical needed to douse out fires in high rise buildings.
Rapid urbanisation is occurring in the country and townships having commercial and industrial importance are growing in different areas. But the fire service is not being able to create a presence in these areas. It also generally remains short of equipment, personnel and other logistical facilities. Besides, it suffers from a serious lack of planning. For example, there are many densely populated areas in the older parts of Dhaka and Chittagong with dinghy areas and extremely narrow lanes where the big lorries of the fire service cannot enter.
But these areas are found to be teeming with small businesses that deal with inflammable materials. Fire service hardly has any contingency plan to operate in these vulnerable places. Therefore, the acute need is to expand the capacities of the services in every sense to improve its effectiveness and presence.
People should be made conscious about helping themselves. They are generally habituated to throwing lighted cigarette butts and other burning materials carelessly that also sometimes can be traced back to big fires. Regular campaigns in the mass media should exhort people to keep fire extinguishers, sand and water buckets near at hand for quick use. They should be motivated so that they may not toss about lighted objects carelessly, to maintain their power lines well to guard against short circuits and to similarly look after their gas-lines remembering to shut down gas burners unfailingly after cooking.
Institutionally, the building of fire exits and keeping of minimum fire fighting gadgets should be made compulsory by law in apartment buildings, offices, industrial establishments and services centres. Fire drills are still unfamiliar to most of the people in the country. But this is a part of life in many countries where people in offices, industries and even apartment buildings regularly submit themselves to fire drills. The drills aim to mock an emergency situation and when a bell is rung, all occupants of a building come out of it at the fastest through designated fire exits after shutting off power lines, gas burners, etc. The importance of this is that everyone knows what to do and how to come out of a house on fire safely. Drills such as these should be introduced on a large scale here to add to consciousness and preparedness against fire incidents.
Shamim Ara
Iqbal Road
Mohammadpur, Dhaka.
Fire incidents in Dhaka city showed that the fire service is under-equipped to fight fires in high-rise buildings. Presently, it has no dependable capacity to reach fires above six stories; it does not also have the special chemical needed to douse out fires in high rise buildings.
Rapid urbanisation is occurring in the country and townships having commercial and industrial importance are growing in different areas. But the fire service is not being able to create a presence in these areas. It also generally remains short of equipment, personnel and other logistical facilities. Besides, it suffers from a serious lack of planning. For example, there are many densely populated areas in the older parts of Dhaka and Chittagong with dinghy areas and extremely narrow lanes where the big lorries of the fire service cannot enter.
But these areas are found to be teeming with small businesses that deal with inflammable materials. Fire service hardly has any contingency plan to operate in these vulnerable places. Therefore, the acute need is to expand the capacities of the services in every sense to improve its effectiveness and presence.
People should be made conscious about helping themselves. They are generally habituated to throwing lighted cigarette butts and other burning materials carelessly that also sometimes can be traced back to big fires. Regular campaigns in the mass media should exhort people to keep fire extinguishers, sand and water buckets near at hand for quick use. They should be motivated so that they may not toss about lighted objects carelessly, to maintain their power lines well to guard against short circuits and to similarly look after their gas-lines remembering to shut down gas burners unfailingly after cooking.
Institutionally, the building of fire exits and keeping of minimum fire fighting gadgets should be made compulsory by law in apartment buildings, offices, industrial establishments and services centres. Fire drills are still unfamiliar to most of the people in the country. But this is a part of life in many countries where people in offices, industries and even apartment buildings regularly submit themselves to fire drills. The drills aim to mock an emergency situation and when a bell is rung, all occupants of a building come out of it at the fastest through designated fire exits after shutting off power lines, gas burners, etc. The importance of this is that everyone knows what to do and how to come out of a house on fire safely. Drills such as these should be introduced on a large scale here to add to consciousness and preparedness against fire incidents.
Shamim Ara
Iqbal Road
Mohammadpur, Dhaka.