It is something of a miracle that Saturday’s fire at a chemical warehouse in Chawkbazar managed to not claim life or limb. However, it is incredibly concerning that chemical warehouses are still situated in residential areas especially in light of the government directive from last year mandating such institutions be relocated to less populated areas without delay.
Chemical warehouses are inherently risky establishments which house volatile substances which, unless contained with the necessary safety checks required, can cause untoward damage.
Saturday’s fire at a chemical warehouse, which stored chemicals for a shoe factory, required nine firefighting units and a considerable amount of time to be doused -- according to firefighting officials, one of the reasons behind the delayed response was due to how unideal the warehouse’s exact location was, with narrow roads and a scarcity of water within the locality.
What made the warehouse owners choose such a difficult spot, that too to build an establishment as risky as a chemical depot?
It has now been well over a decade since the Nimtoli tragedy, an incident which managed to claim over 120 lives as a result of a fire that started in a chemical warehouse and had managed to spread to the nearby residential area. There is no justifiable reason why chemical warehouses should be located in public areas, notwithstanding areas that are incredibly dense in population and virtually unnavigable for firefighting teams.
Most of these warehouses almost never follow the specific codes and guidelines, which need a revision in and of themselves, but to endanger the public at large due to callousness is perhaps the bigger issue here.
The government needs to make sure its mandate to relocate chemical warehouses away from public spaces is enforced, and to hold owners of warehouses which continue to flout the rules accountable.
Friday, March 28, 2025
