Recurring fire tragedies

The horrific inferno at BM Container Depot at Sitakunda sent shockwaves across the country. A pall of gloom descended over Chattogram and other parts of Bangladesh as news filtered in of the increasing number of casualties. There was an overwhelming display of grief and outrage on social media. Even after the valiant and fearless efforts of the firefighters, law enforcers, defence personnel, and the general people, it took nearly three days to bring the fire under control.

The fire at the container depot broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals.

At least 47 persons have perished in the blaze–with many them being charred beyond recognition. The number is likely to increase as hundreds of people fight for their lives after sustaining burn injuries.

Our heart goes out to the families of the victims. No amount of financial compensation to the grieving families will bring their family members back. Nine firefighters lost their lives while heroically trying to control the fire and save lives. This is the worst toll ever for the fire department in Bangladesh.

The lack of rescue and fire-fighting facilities is mostly ignored – until a tragedy strikes. Fires are not a rare occurrence, especially in big cities in the country. Even there, the firefighting services are in desperate need of equipment, training and support from the government. In rural areas the fires mostly go unreported unless there is a huge loss of life. The absence of an effective and functioning local government system has a lot to do with this lack of preparedness of local administration

 What is more tragic is the fact that this latest incident can’t be termed as a wakeup call. The wakeup call was given way back in 2010 when an inferno at the Nimtoli area in the old city claimed at least 123 lives and left hundreds injured. And yet again in 2012 when the Tazrin garment fire claimed 111 lives.  Even after a decade  many people of the locality are yet to recover from the after effects of the tragedy. In the immediate aftermath of Nimtali inferno experts, NGOs and common people raised a logical demand that storage of such potential deadly substances in residential areas should be banned. The government for once acted promptly and fixed a cut-off date asking the traders to shift the warehouses from the area. Unfortunately in reality little was done to change the situation.

There are accusations that the depot authority did not inform the firemen that deadly chemicals were there. If true, this is criminal negligence. The initial fire-fighting team had sprayed water to tame the inferno. They did not know some of the containers carried chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide. According to experts, hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidising agent. If it comes into contact with certain organic compounds, explosive vapours can form. Although not immediately flammable, it generates significant amounts of oxygen when it begins to decompose, which might trigger an explosion.

The 26-acre facility allegedly didn't have any fire safety plan. It lacked fire-fighting equipment to douse the blaze before it turned into an inferno.

There must be a thorough investigation regarding the Sitakunda carnage. Strictest punishment must be meted out to those responsible if there is any proof of foul play.

We salute the people of Chattogram for their wholehearted and prompt response to the tragedy. They are donating blood in large numbers. Small pharmacy owners are giving away stocks from their stocks free of cost. CNG drivers are refusing to take money from the blood donors. People from all walks of life are coming forward to help in any way they can.

Chemical warehouses abound in different parts of the country. Another Sitakunda-like tragedy, while shocking, will not be unexpected. According to media reports, many warehouses do not have the necessary papers, and government monitoring is virtually non-existent. Such stark apathy for the invaluable human lives is hard to find anywhere. And learning from tragedies seems alien to our culture.

We have to stress that there are adequate legislations to prevent atrocious fire incidents like Sitakunda. However, while the laws related to fire safety are there, enforcement is missing.

Fires in factories and container depots are an unacceptably common phenomenon in Bangladesh.

Clearly, the authorities and the management are not doing enough to prevent workplace fires. Preventive measures must be in place to stop a carnage like Sitakunda. Chemicals must be used and stored safely. When storing and storing these highly flammable and potentially substances, adequate ventilation must be in place.

Fire tragedies in Bangladesh have never been addressed pragmatically. The lone exception is the RMG sector that, radically transformed in the face of mounting national and international pressure.

Similar to the RMG sector, the authorities must introduce mandatory compliance rules for the chemical depots and other industrial sectors. They should be instructed to follow strict safety and security guidelines. All our factories and warehouse should be equipped with a voluntary group of firefighters. Moreover, we must draw lessons to thwart potentially dangerous but preventable fire disasters.

Accidents definitely can and will happen but loss of lives must be minimised. According to experts there are adequate legislations to prevent the fire incidents. The laws related to building construction and fire safety is adequate. What is missing is enforcement. The must be strict  enforcement of building construction act, Bangladesh National Building Code, fire prevention act, building rules, and the various city corporation ordinances to prevent such tragedy from being repeated.  Educating people about disaster risks, and being alert about dangerous situations - could probably go a long way towards preventing the next disaster. However we do not see any concentrated approach to raise awareness among the populace.

Experts believe that certain procedures can help a lot in dealing with fires. Avoiding clutter definitely helps. Clutter contributes to death and injuries by preventing access to exits and emergency equipment. Electrical hazards must be reported promptly. Many fires start in faulty wiring and malfunctioning electrical equipment. Sprinklers and firefighting equipment or emergency exits should never be blocked. If development agencies cannot help then the government can ask big corporate houses to unite to provide separate fire service facilities to slums. If vulnerable areas across the country have small fire stations funded and supported either by development bodies or by corporate giants, safety levels of residents will go up considerably.  Unfortunately, with the blessing of political godfathers, many unlawful activities go on with very little attention given to the safety and security of commoners.

The government has to firmly sever all ties with elements that exploit political relations and immediately order all district administrations to provide safety equipment at slums.  Chemicals must be used and stored safely. Adequate ventilation when using and storing these substances must be in place. More importantly residential areas are no places for chemical godowns.  The authorities have declared support for victims but it should also form a body to take some visible and effective steps to improve fire safety. As a first step, all shops, restaurants and warehouses must be forced to buy and install extinguishers.

The writer is a journalist.

He can be contacted at smmsagar48@gmail.com