Fire service still uncertain about cause of Bangabazar fire

Fire Service and Civil Defence Director (Operation and Maintenance) Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury on Wednesday said they have not been able to find the exact source of the Bangabazar fire that destroyed around 5,000 shops. 

“When people tried to salvage their goods, they saw fire burning in some places. The fire is not extinguished completely, but we have it under control,” he told reporters in a briefing in front of Bangabazar Anexco Tower at 12:30pm. 

Mohammad Tajul Islam said: "Twelve firefighting units are still working at the scene. We have a shortage of water. It has been hard to extinguish the fire due to the lack of adequate water nearby.”

“However, we hope to be able to completely put out the fire by today,” he said. 

Tajul Islam said firefighters have been working day and night and cooperating to the fullest to retrieve valuable goods from the buildings. 

“If we can recover the goods, then we will be able to fully douse the fire,” he said. 

Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

He further said eight members of the fire service were injured on Tuesday, among whom two are in critical condition. 

“The remaining six people are out of danger,” said Tajul. 

While responding queries from journalists, Tajul Islam said a building is supposed to reserve 10,000 litres of water, but the fire service only got 5,000 litres. 

“The market owners registered a licence for 10,000 litres while they only reserved 5,000 litres, which made our work even harder,” he added. 

In response to another question, he said: “Many of the buildings have been severely damaged. There are cracks in various pillars of Anexco Tower. The buildings cannot be reused without inspection and Rajuk's permission.”

Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

The fire that took place in Dhaka's Bangabazar Market early on Tuesday was brought under control after over six hours of frantic efforts.

At least 48 units of the Fire Service and Civil Defence were working to douse the blaze.

The blaze started spreading again on Tuesday evening after it had been brought under control.

Firefighters were still desperately trying to extinguish the fire at Anexco Tower at 10:29am on Wednesday.

The DSCC and the fire service have formed two separate panels to probe the incident.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is trying to figure out the cause of the fire as well.