Years of negligence, a dearth of modern firefighting equipment and external challenges have made it difficult for the Cox’s Bazar fire service and civil defence department to provide its basic services.
The department, charged with providing emergency firefighting, rescue and medical services in its jurisdiction, has been unable to properly and equally respond to all such cases.
Sources said the problem was exacerbated by a chronic shortage of manpower in the department. There were only 13 staff members for the entire metropolis, with four important posts left vacant.
In addition, lack of water sources and reservoirs, narrow alleys in densely populated areas, and high-rises built in breach of building codes without adequate safety measures also posed challenges to emergency rescue operations.
Because of these structural problems, the fire department, despite responding in time, sometimes faces difficulties to reach a fire scene, as fire engines – transporting rescue operatives, fire hoses and other specialised equipment – have insufficient space to move through narrow alleyways.
Most of the high-rises in the city built before 2011 do not have standard fire safety measures either, said an source at the department.
Currently, the department has only one tanker with the capacity to transport 6,500 litres of water and a television for monitoring, but it has no lighting unit, foam cannon, foam tender, emergency tender, snorkel, and turntable ladder – making fire extinguishing an arduous task.
There are also concerns over the decrease in the number of open water sources. The department had targeted Lal Dighi, Gol Dighi, Shoibal Dighi, Bazar Ghata canal, Upazila canal, Upal Lake, Probal Lake, Central Mosque Lake and Tekpara Lakefor emergency water supply sources, but it has only been able to get water from Shoibal Dighi, Gol Dighi and the Upazila canal.
The pampant filling of water bodies to construct buildings in town has been contributing to the shrinking size of water bodies.
In addition to the fire station in Cox’s Bazar sadar, there are stations in Chakaria and Pekua, and a recently built station in Teknaf. However, none of the other four upazilas of the district has a station, so during an emergency on those, fire stations from other upazilas have to respond.
Md Abdul Mazid, station officer of the Cox’s Bazar fire department, said there was also a dearth of drivers in the station.
“Previously there were four drivers, but all were then transferred to the Teknaf station when it was built. So in the event of a fire emergency within our jurisdiction, they have to be reassigned, which doesn’t always work,” he said.
For the same reason, the department cannot provide medical care to fire victims, despite having an ambulance, he said.
Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan, deputy assistant director of the station, said the ministry was moving ahead with a plan to build a modern fire station in the district, which both local residents and tourists would benefit from.