Water crisis leads to delay in dousing Gulshan 1 DNCC market fire: Official
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The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence Department (BFSCDD) says they had to struggle a bit longer to douse the fire at the kitchen market of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) in Gulshan-1 due to water crisis.
"It took a bit longer time to bring the fire under control for water crisis," said Major Shakil Newaj, director (operation and maintenance) of the BFSCDD Headquarters on Saturday morning.
Similar shortage of water was faced by fire fighters during major preveious incidents of fire in the city, including the last that took place in Dhaka's Banani.
Over 150 stores at the kitchen market were gutted in the blaze, and some stores at the nearby five-storey Gulshan Shopping Centre damaged.
The DNCC Market, which is adjacent to the makeshift market affected by fire, however, did not suffer any significant damage.
A senior station officer of the BFSCDD, Khurshid Anwar said the fire that broke out around 5:45 am was doused after two and a half hours of frantic efforts.
Twenty firefighting units battled the fire which was completely doused around 8:25 am. Army, Navy and Air Force members also joined them, he said.
No casualty took place in the incident, Anwar said. He, however, could not confirm the cause of the fire and the extent of losses in the blaze immediately.
Owners of businesses at the kitchen market said there was none of them inside the market overnight as it was a weekly holiday for them today (Saturday).
The same market faced a massive fire in January 2017, after which the market authorities were asked to arrange for a fire extinguishing system, among many recommendations from the BFSCCD.
Major Shakil said the market authorities had not implemented the recommendations, which is why, the fire could make such damage this day.
A five-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the incident and asked to submit the report within seven working days, he added.
Just two days ago, on Thursday, a deadly fire ripped through a high-rise in Dhaka's Banani that claimed 25 lives and injured more than 70 others.