Monday’s fire which saw more than 100 homes razed to the ground in Gazipur is yet another sorry reminder of our woefully lacking fire safety measures.
The locality within which the fire spread consisted of low-rent housing, and while no foul play has been suspected, such incidents bring to attention the desperate need for fire safety in such areas.
In general, however, fire safety is seen as more of an afterthought in Bangladesh, given the sheer frequency of fires which occur on a yearly basis. This is the result of apathy and disregard on the part of building owners, facilitated by a culture of impunity and corruption which leads to administrative officials looking the other way when it comes to code violations.
However, there are stark differences between concrete buildings and informal settlements and slums which often do not have any sort of immediate fire response mechanisms around. It is high time that we started exploring these options -- dedicated stations which could house fire extinguishers near such encampments would go a long way to containing such fires into a limited area, while periodic inspections by our fire service department over intervals stand to further solidify fire safety in such localities.
But while that may be a good interim strategy, in the long run, the urban centres of Bangladesh, primarily the capital, need to make sweeping improvements regarding housing standards. Dhaka is a densely populated city with frequent influxes of people coming in from other regions of the country -- this means that fires are also a direct result of our country’s overt centralization. This needs to be solved.
Despite years of promise, the previous government had failed miserably to minimize fires, whether industrial or otherwise. We cannot keep making the same mistakes every time.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
