The capability of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence to face disaster is inadequate, its officials have admitted. The densely populated country is vulnarable to earthquake and other natural calamities like flash floods and sea storms, they said.
Insufficient manpower, poor logistic supports and inadequate number of stations are the major shortcomings of this organisation.
“Dearth of manpower and lack in logistic support are our major problems. We need more stations in the country to tackle post-calamity situation quickly,” said Brigadier General (rtd) Ali Ahmed Khan, Director General of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD).
The Fire Service has 322 stations across the country and 250 more stations are being constructed. About 9000 officials and employees are working in the department.
“The present number is sufficient for 100-150 stations only,” the Director General said. Dhaka city has 13 stations, which are too short to meet emergency.
“The width of the city streets is below standard. Huge traffic gridlocks occur most of the times. In these situations,
more Fire Service stations are necessary,” said Ali Ahmed Khan.
Officials said the nature of job of this department is totally different from all other departments.
“The workforce has to remain alert and ready round the clock. As there is manpower crisis, we get practically no rest,” an official pointed out.
The scope of Fire Service has expanded to a large extent, he said. In the past, its duty was to douse fire only. But at present it covers post building collapse, cyclone, floods and drought, the incidents of launch and cargo capsize and nor’wester situation.
The Fire Service men have been patrolling the accident prone-areas on the highways for the last three months ago.
The DG said 90 teams have been formed with 6-7 persons in a team.
In the past, many injured persons in road accidents died. The number has come down as the Fire Service men patrol the accident-prone areas, he claimed.
The Fire Service has also started working with police and others law enforcers to combat militancy.
One of its officials was killed on duty on May 11 at Godagari, Rajshahi by a gang of militants, when a BFSCD team was there with police in a raid against the militants.
The DG said the service needs higher rise ladders as the number of multi-storied buildings across the country is aplenty. But the fire service has only 5-6 high-rise ladders in Dhaka and Chittagong cities.
