Despite the efforts and sacrifices made by the Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) personnel to protect the people, it is not clear who attacked the FSCD building and its members or why, said its Director General Brig Gen Md Main Uddin.
“I would like to tell people that the fire service is always there in any emergency,” he told reporters, pointing out, “Thirteen firefighters were martyred in the last one year and 29 were injured. Eight FSCD personnel were injured at the Bangabazar market fire on Tuesday.”
Earlier in the morning, a mob of agitated people vandalised FSCD vehicles and building, and injured four firefighters while a devastating fire ripped through the nearby Bangabazar Shopping Complex.
The director general said 48 firefighting units brought the fire under control at 12:36pm. The army, navy, air force, WASA, police, Ansar, and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel assisted the fire service in this endeavour.
He further said, “It will take some more time to put out the fire completely. We will have to check every floor, and every room. We are yet to determine the cause of the fire. We will form a five-member committee to probe the incident.”
Main Uddin said they faced three obstacles — curious crowd, water shortage and strong winds — while taming the blaze.
