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Fire-fighters focus on post-tremor tools

Tk 86 crore plan to procure 20 types of sophisticated fire equipment
The Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence will soon add around 20 types of sophisticated fire-fighting equipment to its current fleet in an effort to modernise the department and carry out rescue operations more effectively.
The equipment will be purchased at a cost of Tk 86 crore under a project jointly funded by Bangladesh government and Japan Development Conciliation Fund. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council okayed the project on March 1 this year.
The department will procure three aerial platforms with ladder, which will be able to ascend up to 17 floors of a building during rescue missions, and two lighting units with the capacity to light up 500 yards around a disaster-hit area.
Besides, the fire service will import two big water vehicles with the capacity of carrying 12,000 litres of water each. Currently the department has 186 water vehicles, each having 6,500 litres capacity, in its 193 stations across the country including 13 in Dhaka city.
The department is now attaching priority to postearthquake rescue operations. Around 50 vibrators, 10 thermal imaging cameras and 12 search cameras will be purchased under the project which will complete by June next year.
Thermal imaging cameras and search cameras will help .detect people trapped under
the debris after an earthquake or any other major disasters.
The other equipment to be procured include smoke ejector, hit protective suits, breathing apparatus, safety helmet with lamps etc.
Officials from the fire service said with these new equipment and appropriate training the fire fighters and rescue workers will be able to execute rescue missions in high-rise buildings more effectively and help save many lives in the future.
“The city is growing vertically every day changing the nature of fire incidents in the city, which calls for a change in strategy and addition of modern equipment designed to tackle incidents in high-rise buildings,” said Brig Gen Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
"We are giving priority to earthquakes, as it has been reported that Dhaka city will be very risky if there is a major jolt.
We would like to be prepared forthat," he added.
These modern equipment will speed up rescue missions, bring down casualties and save valuable property during fires or earthquakes, he said.
The department made its last major procurement back in 1982.
The fire service has long been operating without many essential equipment that hindered the rescue missions.
Currently the department has only one TTL (Turntable
Ladder) and one light unit. TTL is an essential equipment to execute rescue missions in high-rises. Purchased in 1982 it is in possession of fire brigade's Dhaka office and it can reach up to 150 feet height.
Fire service now has a total of four snorkel fire engines. Among them, two are in Dhaka and the remaining two are in Chittagong and Khulna.
Nayeem pointed out that rescue missions in Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) Bhaban in city's Karwan Bazar last year, 9-storcy Spectrum garment factory building in Savar and Phoenix building in Mohakhali, could have been faster with less casualties if there were more sophisticated equipment.
Four people died and at least 50 were injured in a devastating fire in BSEC Bhaban on February 26 last year. Fire fighters' experience shows TTL was the most effective fire fighting and rescue equipment during the inferno in the 11-storey building.
During the rescue operations, the fire fighters realised the vulnerability of city's high-rise buildings during fire and the need for more equipment. The incident was also an eye opener for the city dwellers.
A total of 9,196 incidents of lire took place in the country in 2007 killing about 138 people while the number of fire in Dhaka city was 1.040, which killed 14 people. These fire incidents destroyed property worth around Tk 309 crore.