A three-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the fire at a six-story building in Banani, Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Brigadier General Md Sazzad Hussain said on Saturday.
“Plywood was kept on the third floor of the building. Raw materials for making clothes and cartons of paper were also stored. These are highly flammable substances that cause fires to spread, but firefighters rushed to the spot so the fire could not spread severely,” he told journalists during a press conference.
Raihan Kabir, assistant director of the media cell of the Fire Service, said a firefighter was injured in the efforts to control the blaze.
The building houses the warehouse of an organization called Amecon. The fire broke out from there, he added.
He also said 10 firefighting units began working to control the fire, and five units joined later.
The firefighters did not find a fire extinguishing system in the building . The building was not built in line with the building code either, said Fire Service and Civil Defence Director (Operations) Zillur Rahman.
Earlier on Saturday, the fire that broke out at a commercial building in Dhaka's Banani neighbourhood in the morning was brought under control after four hours in the afternoon.
A firefighter uses a fire hose to try and douse a fire at a building in Banani, Dhaka on Saturday, August 21, 2021 Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
The fire originated on the second floor of the six-storey building in the Chairmanbari area at around 9:10am, said Md Bazlur Rashid, deputy assistant director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.
The blaze was brought under control at around 1:15pm.
Fire Service officials suspected that no one had been trapped inside, as they had not received any reports of missing persons yet, said Zillur Rahman, adding that they would be able to find out the cause of the fire after an investigation.
The first floor of the building houses the office of the private TV channel Ananda TV and the showroom of Amecon.
The damage incurred could not be determined immediately.
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Trade licences suspended
Meanwhile, DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam has announced the suspension of the trade licences of all business enterprises housed in the six-storey building.
After visiting the spot, Atiqul said the businesses would only be able to renew their licences once they could prove with necessary documents that their business spaces had complied with the provisions of the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC).
The building is very old and was built before the code came into effect in 2006, he added.
Moreover, the Fire Service did not find fire extinguishers and fire suppression systems in the building.
“It has a warehouse where mostly paper cartons and wooden items were stored, all of which are flammable,” he added.
