Staff Reporter :
A massive fire that broke out on the third floor of the six-storey Amecon building at Chairmanbari in the city’s Banani was doused at 1:05pm after four hours tireless efforts by 15 units of the fire service on Saturday.
The reason behind the fire could not be ascertained.
Ziaur Rahman, Duty Office of Fire Service Directorate, confirmed the matter to the media saying that on information fifteen units of the fire service rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire within four hours.
According to locals, the fire incident in this building is not new at all. The building caught the fire for 5th time in the last 22 years. Of them, there happened serious damage twice.
Dulal Mia, a worker in the building said, “We were working in a part of a warehouse on the 2nd floor of the building. We realized fire caught the warehouse.
Besides, smelling plastic burning, we called fire service instantly.”
Meanwhile, Asif Iqbal, a Director of Amecon building said, “Various kinds of gift items including wooden and plastic made crests were kept in our warehouse. Besides, several imported materials and chemicals were there. Using those, workers used to make crest and gift items. These items are very combustible substances.
Electrical short-circuit would be the reason behind the fire.”
On information, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam visited the spot on Saturday noon.
At that time, mayor Atiqul said that the trade license will not be renewed if the building code is not obeyed properly.
Inspecting the site, he further said “As far as I know, there is a storehouse for making crests in the building. However, the exact cause of the fire will be investigated. I told the regional officer that in order to get a license, every building owner has to give a trade license in accordance with the BNBC code. In fact, their trade licenses will be renewed in accordance with BNBC, Mayor added.
On the other hand, Brigadier General Sajjad Hossain, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defense, said if there was any negligence on the part of the authorities, appropriate action would be taken.
He was responding to a question from reporters on the spot at 2.30pm on Saturday (21).
