Metropolis Desk-
The fire that took 46 lives started as a result of an electric kettle short circuit inside a tea and coffee business on the ground floor of Bailey Road’s “Green Cosy Cottage,” according to the Fire Service.
But their investigation also revealed that the structure had a gas leak, which contributed to the fire’s rapid spread.
Cylinders also blocked the stairs, making it impossible for anyone to flee the fire. The five-member Fire Service investigative committee found various fire safety regulations, this being one of them.
The head of the investigation committee and the agency’s director of operations, Lt Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, stated on Sunday that “so many people would not have died if the building had an exit stairway.”
On February 29, a fire started at the seven-story Dhaka skyscraper. The building’s majority of the space was used by coffee shops and restaurants. The night before a holiday, a large number of people had flocked inside the building for dinner, only to be caught in the fatal fire.
After the accident, accusations of carelessness were leveled against the Capital Development Authority (RAJUK) and other organizations that had approved the building’s design and safety requirements. To look into the occurrence, RAJUK and the Fire Service established separate probes.
A high-level committee was also constituted by the High Court to investigate whether Dhaka’s residential and commercial structures had enough fire safety precautions and whether those precautions were being taken in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations.
The committee had representatives from RAJUK, BUET, the city corporations of Dhaka North and Dhaka South, and members of the fire service. It was put in charge by a secretary from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Within four months, the High Court ordered them to report on the matter.
The Fire Service investigation filed its findings last week after finishing its investigation in the allotted period.
On Sunday, Lt Col Tajul stated, “The fire originated from the short circuit of an electric kettle at the ground floor coffee shop called ‘Cha Chumuk.'” One of the main factors in the fire’s spread was gas buildup from a leak. The ground floor was destroyed by the fire in four or five minutes.
He claimed that the fire would not have spread so quickly or been so big if it had been caused by a simple short circuit or electrical malfunction.
“We gathered video evidence of the fire’s initial phases and discovered that, in just four to five minutes, it had progressed to the ‘fully developed stage.’
There are four stages of a fire: fully developed, decaying, growing, and ignited.
The probe chief spread as the electrical fire initially moved through the cables. Afterwards, it dispersed through flammable materials. However, he said that the fire was not that big.
In this instance, an electrical source caused the fire, which then spread via gas. Many initially attempted to use fire extinguishers to put out the fire. There was also a policeman there. However, the gas caused them to fail. Six minutes later, the first fire engine arrived, and by then, the whole ground floor was on fire.
The official bemoaned, “So many people would not have died if there had been an empty staircase. There are serious problems with this building. There was just one staircase, and once more, gas cylinders blocked it. Numerous problems, including significant ones like the staircase, have been discovered with the building.”
