Banani building fire triggers city gridlock 

Fifteen fire-fighting units in a four-hour effort on Saturday doused the fire that broke out at a multistoried commercial building at Banani in Dhaka that had no fire extinguishing system. 

The fire broke out on the second floor of a six-storey building that houses Ananda Television at Chairman Bari in Banani around 9:00am. Fifteen fire-fighting units were gradually engaged in the rescue operation and they could douse the fire by 1:00pm, said Fire Service and Civil Defence control room duty officer Rozina Akhter.

The rescue operation required halting traffic movement on the busy Airport Road that triggered long tailback of vehicles and gradually triggered gridlock on major city thoroughfares. Severe traffic congestion was seen at Gulshan, Kakali, Mohakhali, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar areas.

Around noon, most major streets of the city were shown dark red on Google map. 

Nazneen Sultana, a housewife, said she required one hour and a half to pass Mohakhali crossing on a bus on her way to Aftabnagar from Nakhalpara.

Nayeem Noor, a resident of Mirpur, said he usually go to Mohakhali through Dhaka Cantonment but knowing the fire incident he took other route to reach Mohakhali and it gave to respite rather took two hours to reach destination.

A firefighter was injured during the rescue operation and no other casualties were reported, said Rozina adding that the firefighters were yet to trace the cause of the fire. 

Fire Service’s Director (Operations and Maintenance) Zillur Rahman told the reporters that there was a warehouse of Amecon, a firm that manufactures crests, trophies and gift items, on the building. They reportedly make crests in the warehouse, he said.

Zillur said the firefighters found it tough to douse flame as there were lots of combustible substances in the warehouse.

He said the firefighters did not find any fire extinguishing system in the building which is mandatory as per the Bangladesh National Building Code. 

Meanwhile, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Md Atiqul Islam visited the spot and said that the corporation would not issue any trade license for establishments in any building which were not built complying with the building code.